Systems and methods for vehicular positioning based on wireless fingerprinting data in a network of moving things including, for example, autonomous vehicles

ABSTRACT

Communication network architectures, systems and methods for supporting a network of mobile nodes. As a non-limiting example, various aspects of this disclosure provide communication network architectures, systems, and methods for supporting a dynamically configurable communication network comprising a complex array of both static and moving communication nodes (e.g., the Internet of moving things). For example, systems and method for vehicular positioning based on wireless fingerprinting data in a network of moving things including, for example, autonomous vehicles.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS/INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The present patent application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/647,234, filed on Jul. 11, 2017, and titled“Systems and Methods for Vehicular Positioning Based On WirelessFingerprinting Data in a Network of Moving Things Including, forExample, Autonomous Vehicles,” which makes reference to, claims priorityto, and claims benefit from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.62/360,592, filed on Jul. 11, 2016, and titled “Systems and Methods forVehicular Positioning Based On Wireless Fingerprinting Data in a Networkof Moving Things,” which is hereby incorporated herein by reference inits entirety. The present application is also related to U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/221,997, titled “IntegratedCommunication Network for a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22,2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,016, titled “Systemsand Methods for Synchronizing a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep.22, 2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,042, titled“Systems and Methods for Managing a Network of Moving Things,” filed onSep. 22, 2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,066, titled“Systems and Methods for Monitoring a Network of Moving Things,” filedon Sep. 22, 2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,077,titled “Systems and Methods for Detecting and Classifying Anomalies in aNetwork of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015; U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/222,098, titled “Systems and Methods forManaging Mobility in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22,2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,121, titled “Systemsand Methods for Managing Connectivity a Network of Moving Things,” filedon Sep. 22, 2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,135,titled “Systems and Methods for Collecting Sensor Data in a Network ofMoving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015; U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 62/222,145, titled “Systems and Methods for Interfacing with aNetwork of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015; U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/222,150, titled “Systems and Methods forInterfacing with a User of a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep.22, 2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,168, titled“Systems and Methods for Data Storage and Processing for a Network ofMoving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015; U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 62/222,183, titled “Systems and Methods for Vehicle TrafficManagement in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015; U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,186, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Environmental Management in a Network of Moving Things,” filed onSep. 22, 2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,190, titled“Systems and Methods for Port Management in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Sep. 22, 2015; U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.62/222,192, titled “Communication Network of Moving Things,” filed onSep. 22, 2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/244,828, titled“Utilizing Historical Data to Correct GPS Data in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Oct. 22, 2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.62/244,930, titled “Using Anchors to Correct GPS Data in a Network ofMoving Things,” filed on Oct. 22, 2015; U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 62/246,368, titled “Systems and Methods for Inter-ApplicationCommunication in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Oct. 26, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/246,372, titled “Systems andMethods for Probing and Validating Communication in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Oct. 26, 2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.62/250,544, titled “Adaptive Rate Control for Vehicular Networks,” filedon Nov. 4, 2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/273,878,titled “Systems and Methods for Reconfiguring and Adapting Hardware in aNetwork of Moving Things,” filed on Dec. 31, 2015; U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/253,249, titled “Systems and Methods forOptimizing Data Gathering in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Nov.10, 2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/257,421, titled“Systems and Methods for Delay Tolerant Networking in a Network ofMoving Things,” filed on Nov. 19, 2015; U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 62/265,267, titled “Systems and Methods for Improving Coverageand Throughput of Mobile Access Points in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Dec. 9, 2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/270,858,titled “Channel Coordination in a Network of Moving Things,” filed onDec. 22, 2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/257,854, titled“Systems and Methods for Network Coded Mesh Networking in a Network ofMoving Things,” filed on Nov. 20, 2015; U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 62/260,749, titled “Systems and Methods for Improving FixedAccess Point Coverage in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Nov. 30,2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/273,715, titled “Systemsand Methods for Managing Mobility Controllers and Their NetworkInteractions in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Dec. 31, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/281,432, titled “Systems andMethods for Managing and Triggering Handovers of Mobile Access Points ina Network of Moving Things,” filed on Jan. 21, 2016; U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/268,188, titled “Captive Portal-related Controland Management in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Dec. 16, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/270,678, titled “Systems andMethods to Extrapolate High-Value Data from a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Dec. 22, 2015; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.62/272,750, titled “Systems and Methods for Remote Software Update andDistribution in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Dec. 30, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/278,662, titled “Systems andMethods for Remote Configuration Update and Distribution in a Network ofMoving Things,” filed on Jan. 14, 2016; U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 62/286,243, titled “Systems and Methods for Adapting a Networkof Moving Things Based on User Feedback,” filed on Jan. 22, 2016; U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/278,764, titled “Systems and Methodsto Guarantee Data Integrity When Building Data Analytics in a Network ofMoving Things,” Jan. 14, 2016; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.62/286,515, titled “Systems and Methods for Self-Initialization andAutomated Bootstrapping of Mobile Access Points in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Jan. 25, 2016; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.62/295,602, titled “Systems and Methods for Power Management in aNetwork of Moving Things,” filed on Feb. 16, 2016; and U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/299,269, titled “Systems and Methods forAutomating and Easing the Installation and Setup of the InfrastructureSupporting a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Feb. 24, 2016; each ofwhich is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for allpurposes.

BACKGROUND

Current communication networks are unable to adequately supportcommunication environments involving mobile and static nodes. As anon-limiting example, current communication networks are unable toadequately support a network comprising a complex array of both movingand static nodes (e.g., the Internet of moving things, autonomousvehicle networks, etc.). Limitations and disadvantages of conventionalmethods and systems will become apparent to one of skill in the art,through comparison of such approaches with some aspects of the presentmethods and systems set forth in the remainder of this disclosure withreference to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a communication network, in accordancewith various aspects of this disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a communication network, in accordancewith various aspects of this disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows a diagram of a metropolitan area network, in accordancewith various aspects of this disclosure.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a communication network, in accordancewith various aspects of this disclosure.

FIGS. 5A-5C show a plurality of network configurations illustrating theflexibility and/or and resiliency of a communication network, inaccordance with various aspects of this disclosure.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of an example communication network, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of an example communication network, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating the flow of data used forwireless fingerprinting, in accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example informationarchitecture of a wireless fingerprinting data acquisition mechanismduring what may be referred to herein as a “training phase,” inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example informationarchitecture of a wireless fingerprinting mechanism during what may bereferred to herein as a “online phase,” in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 11A-11C show a flowchart for an example method of performingvehicular positioning based on wireless fingerprinting data in a networkelement such as, for example, a network unit, on-board unit, or a mobileaccess point, in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 12A-12B show a flowchart for an example method of performingvehicular positioning based on wireless fingerprinting data in acloud-based system or other network element, in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of an example method of generating a locationestimate, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14A is a diagram showing various data elements or parameters and anarrangement for an example wireless fingerprint sample 1400, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14B is a diagram showing an example collection of wirelessfingerprint sample data entries FP1, FP2, and FPm that may, for example,correspond to the example wireless fingerprint sample of FIG. 14A, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

SUMMARY

Various aspects of this disclosure provide communication networkarchitectures, systems and methods for supporting a network of mobileand/or static nodes. As a non-limiting example, various aspects of thisdisclosure provide communication network architectures, systems, andmethods for supporting a dynamically configurable communication networkcomprising a complex array of both static and moving communication nodes(e.g., the Internet of moving things, autonomous vehicle networks,etc.). For example, a communication network implemented in accordancewith various aspects of the present disclosure may operate in one of aplurality of modalities comprising various fixed nodes, mobile nodes,and/or a combination thereof, which are selectable to achieve any of avariety of system goals.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE DISCLOSURE

As utilized herein the terms “circuits” and “circuitry” refer tophysical electronic components (i.e., hardware) and any software and/orfirmware (“code”) that may configure the hardware, be executed by thehardware, and or otherwise be associated with the hardware. As usedherein, for example, a particular processor and memory (e.g., a volatileor non-volatile memory device, a general computer-readable medium, etc.)may comprise a first “circuit” when executing a first one or more linesof code and may comprise a second “circuit” when executing a second oneor more lines of code. Additionally, a circuit may comprise analogand/or digital circuitry. Such circuitry may, for example, operate onanalog and/or digital signals. It should be understood that a circuitmay be in a single device or chip, on a single motherboard, in a singlechassis, in a plurality of enclosures at a single geographical location,in a plurality of enclosures distributed over a plurality ofgeographical locations, etc. Similarly, the term “module” may, forexample, refer to a physical electronic components (i.e., hardware) andany software and/or firmware (“code”) that may configure the hardware,be executed by the hardware, and or otherwise be associated with thehardware.

As utilized herein, circuitry is “operable” to perform a functionwhenever the circuitry comprises the necessary hardware and code (if anyis necessary) to perform the function, regardless of whether performanceof the function is disabled, or not enabled (e.g., by auser-configurable setting, factory setting or trim, etc.).

As utilized herein, “and/or” means any one or more of the items in thelist joined by “and/or”. As an example, “x and/or y” means any elementof the three-element set {(x), (y), (x, y)}. That is, “x and/or y” means“one or both of x and y.” As another example, “x, y, and/or z” means anyelement of the seven-element set {(x), (y), (z), (x, y), (x, z), (y, z),(x, y, z)}. That is, “x, y, and/or z” means “one or more of x, y, andz.” As utilized herein, the terms “e.g.,” and “for example,”“exemplary,” and the like set off lists of one or more non-limitingexamples, instances, or illustrations.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularexamples only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. Asused herein, the singular forms are intended to include the plural formsas well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will befurther understood that the terms “comprises,” “includes,” “comprising,”“including,” “has,” “have,” “having,” and the like when used in thisspecification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps,operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps,operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. maybe used herein to describe various elements, these elements should notbe limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish oneelement from another element. Thus, for example, a first element, afirst component or a first section discussed below could be termed asecond element, a second component or a second section without departingfrom the teachings of the present disclosure. Similarly, various spatialterms, such as “upper,” “lower,” “side,” and the like, may be used indistinguishing one element from another element in a relative manner. Itshould be understood, however, that components may be oriented indifferent manners, for example an electronic device may be turnedsideways so that its “top” surface is facing horizontally and its “side”surface is facing vertically, without departing from the teachings ofthe present disclosure.

With the proliferation of the mobile and/or static things (e.g.,devices, machines, people, etc.) and logistics for such things to becomeconnected to each other (e.g., in the contexts of smart logistics,transportation, environmental sensing, etc.), a platform that is forexample always-on, robust, scalable and secure that is capable ofproviding connectivity, services and Internet access to such things (orobjects), anywhere and anytime is desirable. Efficient power utilizationwithin the various components of such system is also desirable.

Accordingly, various aspects of the present disclosure provide afully-operable, always-on, responsive, robust, scalable, secureplatform/system/architecture to provide connectivity, services andInternet access to all mobile things and/or static things (e.g.,devices, machines, people, access points, end user devices, sensors,etc.) anywhere and anytime, while operating in an energy-efficientmanner.

Various aspects of the present disclosure provide a platform that isflexibly configurable and adaptable to the various requirements,features, and needs of different environments, where each environmentmay be characterized by a respective level of mobility and density ofmobile and/or static things, and the number and/or types of access tothose things. Characteristics of various environments may, for example,include high mobility of nodes (e.g., causing contacts or connections tobe volatile), high number of neighbors, high number of connected mobileusers, mobile access points, availability of multiple networks andtechnologies (e.g., sometimes within a same area), etc. For example, themode of operation of the platform may be flexibly adapted fromenvironment to environment, based on each environment's respectiverequirements and needs, which may be different from other environments.Additionally for example, the platform may be flexibly optimized (e.g.,at design/installation time and/or in real-time) for different purposes(e.g., to reduce the latency, increase throughput, reduce powerconsumption, load balance, increase reliability, make more robust withregard to failures or other disturbances, etc.), for example based onthe content, service or data that the platform provides or handleswithin a particular environment.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, manycontrol and management services (e.g., mobility, security, routing,etc.) are provided on top of the platform (e.g., directly, using controloverlays, using containers, etc.), such services being compatible withthe services currently deployed on top of the Internet or othercommunication network(s).

The communication network (or platform), in whole or in part, may forexample be operated in public and/or private modes of operation, forexample depending on the use case. The platform may, for example,operate in a public or private mode of operation, depending on theuse-case (e.g., public Internet access, municipal environment sensing,fleet operation, etc.).

Additionally for example, in an implementation in which various networkcomponents are mobile, the transportation and/or signal controlmechanisms may be adapted to serve the needs of the particularimplementation. Also for example, wireless transmission power and/orrate may be adapted (e.g., to mitigate interference, to reduce powerconsumption, to extend the life of network components, etc.

Various example implementations of a platform, in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure, are capable of connectingdifferent subsystems, even when various other subsystems that maynormally be utilized are unavailable. For example, the platform maycomprise various built-in redundancies and fail-recovery mechanisms. Forexample, the platform may comprise a self-healing capability,self-configuration capability, self-adaptation capability, etc. Theprotocols and functions of the platform may, for example, be prepared tobe autonomously and smoothly configured and adapted to the requirementsand features of different environments characterized by different levelsof mobility and density of things (or objects), the number/types ofaccess to those things. For example, various aspects of the platform maygather context parameters that can influence any or all decisions. Suchparameters may, for example, be derived locally, gathered from aneighborhood, fixed APs, the Cloud, etc. Various aspects of the platformmay also, for example, ask for historical information to feed any of thedecisions, where such information can be derived from historical data,from surveys, from simulators, etc. Various aspects of the platform mayadditionally, for example, probe or monitor decisions made throughoutthe network, for example to evaluate the network and/or the decisionsthemselves in real-time. Various aspects of the platform may further,for example, enforce the decisions in the network (e.g., afterevaluating the probing results). Various aspects of the platform may,for example, establish thresholds to avoid any decision that is to beconstantly or repeatedly performed without any significant advantage(e.g., technology change, certificate change, IP change, etc.). Variousaspects of the platform may also, for example, learn locally (e.g., withthe decisions performed) and dynamically update the decisions.

In addition to (or instead of) failure robustness, a platform mayutilize multiple connections (or pathways) that exist between distinctsub-systems or elements within the same sub-system, to increase therobustness and/or load-balancing of the system.

The following discussion will present examples of the functionalityperformed by various example subsystems of the communication network. Itshould be understood that the example functionality discussed hereinneed not be performed by the particular example subsystem or by a singlesubsystem. For example, the subsystems present herein may interact witheach other, and data or control services may be deployed either in acentralized way, or having their functionalities distributed among thedifferent subsystems, for example leveraging the cooperation between theelements of each subsystem.

Various aspects of the present disclosure provide a communicationnetwork (e.g., a city-wide vehicular network, a shipping port-sizedvehicular network, a campus-wide vehicular network, etc.) that utilizesvehicles (e.g., automobiles, buses, trucks, boats, forklifts,human-operated vehicles, autonomous and/or remote controlled vehicles,etc.) as Wi-Fi hotspots. Note that Wi-Fi is generally used throughoutthis discussion as an example, but the scope of various aspects of thisdisclosure is not limited thereto. For example, other wireless LANtechnologies, PAN technologies, MAN technologies, etc., may be utilized.Such utilization may, for example, provide cost-effective ways to gathersubstantial amounts of urban data, and provide for the efficientoffloading of traffic from congested cellular networks (or othernetworks). In controlled areas (e.g., ports, harbors, etc.) with manyvehicles, a communication network in accordance with various aspects ofthis disclosure may expand the wireless coverage of existing enterpriseWi-Fi networks, for example providing for real-time communication withvehicle drivers (e.g., human, computer-controlled, etc.) and othermobile employees without the need for SIM cards or cellular (or othernetwork) data plans.

Vehicles may have many advantageous characteristics that make themuseful as Wi-Fi (or general wireless) hotspots. For example, vehiclesgenerally have at least one battery, vehicles are generally denselyspread over the city at street level and/or they are able to establishmany contacts with each other in a controlled space, and vehicles cancommunicate with 10× the range of normal Wi-Fi in the 5.9 GHz frequencyband, reserved for intelligent transportation systems in the EU, theU.S., and elsewhere. Note that the scope of this disclosure is notlimited to such 5.9 GHz wireless communication. Further, vehicles areable to effectively expand their coverage area into a swath over aperiod of time, enabling a single vehicle access point to interact withsubstantially more data sources over the period of time.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, anaffordable multi-network on-board unit (OBU) is presented. Note that theOBU may also be referred to herein as a mobile access point, Mobile AP,MAP, etc. The OBU may, for example, comprise a plurality of networkinginterfaces (e.g., Wi-Fi, 802.11p, 4G, Bluetooth, UWB, etc.). The OBUmay, for example, be readily installed in or on private and/or publicvehicles (e.g., individual user vehicles, vehicles of private fleets,vehicles of public fleets, etc.). The OBU may, for example, be installedin transportation fleets, waste management fleets, law enforcementfleets, emergency services, road maintenance fleets, taxi fleets,aircraft fleets, etc. The OBU may, for example, be installed in or on avehicle or other structure with free mobility or relatively limitedmobility. The OBU may also, for example, be carried by a person orservice animal, mounted to a bicycle, mounted to a moving machine ingeneral, mounted to a container, etc.

The OBUs may, for example, operate to connect passing vehicles to thewired infrastructure of one or more network providers, telecomoperators, etc. In accordance with the architecture, hardware, andsoftware functionality discussed herein, vehicles and fleets can beconnected not just to the cellular networks (or other wide area ormetropolitan area networks, etc.) and existing Wi-Fi hotspots spreadover a city or a controlled space, but also to other vehicles (e.g.,utilizing multi-hop communications to a wired infrastructure, single ormulti-hop peer-to-peer vehicle communication, etc.). The vehicles and/orfleets may, for example, form an overall mesh of communication links,for example including the OBUs and also fixed Access Points (APs)connected to the wired infrastructure (e.g., a local infrastructure,etc.). Note that OBUs herein may also be referred to as “Mobile APs,”“mobile hotspots,” “MAPs,” etc. Also note that fixed access points mayalso be referred to herein as Road Side Units (RSUs), Fixed APs, FAPs,etc.

In an example implementation, the OBUs may communicate with the FixedAPs utilizing a relatively long-range protocol (e.g., 802.11p, etc.),and the Fixed APs may, in turn, be hard wired to the wiredinfrastructure (e.g., via cable, tethered optical link, etc.). Note thatFixed APs may also, or alternatively, be coupled to the infrastructurevia wireless link (e.g., 802.11p, etc.). Additionally, clients or userdevices may communicate with the OBUs using one or more relativelyshort-range protocols (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, UWB, etc.). The OBUs, forexample having a longer effective wireless communication range thantypical Wi-Fi access points or other wireless LAN/PAN access points(e.g., at least for links such as those based on 802.11p, etc.), arecapable of substantially greater coverage areas than typical Wi-Fi orother wireless LAN/PAN access points, and thus fewer OBUs are necessaryto provide blanket coverage over a geographical area.

The OBU may, for example, comprise a robust vehicular networking module(e.g., a connection manager) which builds on long-range communicationprotocol capability (e.g., 802.11p, etc.). For example, in addition tocomprising 802.11p (or other long-range protocol) capability tocommunicate with Fixed APs, vehicles, and other nodes in the network,the OBU may comprise a network interface (e.g., 802.11a/b/g/n, 802.11ac,802.11af, any combination thereof, etc.) to provide wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) connectivity to end user devices, sensors, fixed Wi-Fiaccess points, etc. For example, the OBU may operate to providein-vehicle Wi-Fi Internet access to users in and/or around the vehicle(e.g., a bus, train car, taxi cab, public works vehicle, etc.). The OBUmay further comprise one or more wireless backbone communicationinterfaces (e.g., cellular network interfaces, etc.). Though in variousexample scenarios, a cellular network interface (or other wirelessbackbone communication interface) might not be the preferred interfacefor various reasons (e.g., cost, power, bandwidth, etc.), the cellularnetwork interface may be utilized to provide connectivity ingeographical areas that are not presently supported by a Fixed AP, maybe utilized to provide a fail-over communication link, may be utilizedfor emergency communications, may be utilized to subscribe to localinfrastructure access, etc. The cellular network interface may also, forexample, be utilized to allow the deployment of solutions that aredependent on the cellular network operators.

An OBU, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure,may for example comprise a smart connection manager that can select thebest available wireless link(s) (e.g., Wi-Fi, 802.11p, cellular, vehiclemesh, etc.) with which to access the Internet. The OBU may also, forexample, provide geo-location capabilities (e.g., GPS, etc.), motiondetection sensors to determine if the vehicle is in motion, and a powercontrol subsystem (e.g., to ensure that the OBU does not deplete thevehicle battery, etc.). The OBU may, for example, comprise any or all ofthe sensors (e.g., environmental sensors, etc.) discussed herein.

The OBU may also, for example, comprise a manager that managesmachine-to-machine data acquisition and transfer (e.g., in a real-timeor delay-tolerant fashion) to and from the cloud. For example, the OBUmay log and/or communicate information of the vehicles.

The OBU may, for example, comprise a connection and/or routing managerthat operates to perform routing of communications in avehicle-to-vehicle/vehicle-to-infrastructure multi-hop communication. Amobility manager (or controller, MC) may, for example, ensure thatcommunication sessions persist over one or more handoff(s) (alsoreferred to herein as a “handover” or “handovers”) (e.g., betweendifferent Mobile APs, Fixed APs, base stations, hot spots, etc.), amongdifferent technologies (e.g., 802.11p, cellular, Wi-Fi, satellite,etc.), among different MCs (e.g., in a fail-over scenario, loadredistribution scenario, etc.), across different interfaces (or ports),etc. Note that the MC may also be referred to herein as a Local MobilityAnchor (LMA), a Network Controller, etc. Note that the MC, or aplurality thereof, may for example be implemented as part of thebackbone, but may also, or alternatively, be implemented as part of anyof a variety of components or combinations thereof. For example, the MCmay be implemented in a Fixed AP (or distributed system thereof), aspart of an OBU (or a distributed system thereof), etc. Variousnon-limiting examples of system components and/or methods are providedin U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/222,098, filed Sep. 22, 2015, andtitled “Systems and Method for Managing Mobility in a Network of MovingThings,” the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein byreference. Note that in an example implementation including a pluralityof MCs, such MCs may be co-located and/or may be geographicallydistributed.

Various aspects of the present disclosure also provide a cloud-basedservice-oriented architecture that handles the real-time management,monitoring and reporting of the network and clients, the functionalitiesrequired for data storage, processing and management, the Wi-Fi clientauthentication and Captive Portal display, etc.

A communication network (or component thereof) in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure may, for example, support awide range of smart city applications (or controlled scenarios, orconnected scenarios, etc.) and/or use-cases, as described herein.

For example, an example implementation may operate to turn each vehicle(e.g., both public and private taxis, buses, trucks, etc.) into a MobileAP (e.g., a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot), offering Internet access toemployees, passengers and mobile users travelling in the city, waitingin bus stops, sitting in parks, etc. Moreover, through an examplevehicular mesh network formed between vehicles and/or fleets ofvehicles, an implementation may be operable to offload cellular trafficthrough the mobile Wi-Fi hotspots and/or fixed APs (e.g., 802.11p-basedAPs) spread over the city and connected to the wired infrastructure ofpublic or private telecom operators in strategic places, while ensuringthe widest possible coverage at the lowest possible cost.

An example implementation (e.g., of a communication network and/orcomponents thereof) may, for example, be operable as a massive urbanscanner that gathers large amounts of data (e.g., continuously)on-the-move, actionable or not, generated by a myriad of sourcesspanning from the in-vehicle sensors or On Board Diagnostic System port(e.g., OBD2, etc.), interface with an autonomous vehicle driving system,external Wi-Fi/Bluetooth-enabled sensing units spread over the city,devices of vehicles' drivers and passengers (e.g., informationcharacterizing such devices and/or passengers, etc.), positioning systemdevices (e.g., position information, velocity information, trajectoryinformation, travel history information, etc.), etc.

Depending on the use case, the OBU may for example process (or computer,transform, manipulate, aggregate, summarize, etc.) the data beforesending the data from the vehicle, for example providing the appropriategranularity (e.g., value resolution) and sampling rates (e.g., temporalresolution) for each individual application. For example, the OBU may,for example, process the data in any manner deemed advantageous by thesystem. The OBU may, for example, send the collected data (e.g., rawdata, preprocessed data, information of metrics calculated based on thecollected data, etc.) to the Cloud (e.g., to one or more networkedservers coupled to any portion of the network) in an efficient andreliable manner to improve the efficiency, environmental impact andsocial value of municipal city operations and transportation services.Various example use cases are described herein.

In an example scenario in which public buses are moving along cityroutes and/or taxis are performing their private transportationservices, the OBU is able to collect large quantities of real-time datafrom the positioning systems (e.g., GPS, etc.), from accelerometermodules, etc. The OBU may then, for example, communicate such data tothe Cloud, where the data may be processed, reported and viewed, forexample to support such public or private bus and/or taxi operations,for example supporting efficient remote monitoring and scheduling ofbuses and taxis, respectively.

In an example implementation, small cameras (or other sensors) may becoupled to small single-board computers (SBCs) that are placed above thedoors of public buses to allow capturing image sequences of peopleentering and leaving buses, and/or on stops along the bus routes inorder to estimate the number of people waiting for a bus. Such data maybe gathered by the OBU in order to be sent to the Cloud. With such data,public transportation systems may detect peaks; overcrowded buses,routes and stops; underutilized buses, routes and stops; etc., enablingaction to be taken in real-time (e.g., reducing bus periodicity todecrease fuel costs and CO₂ emissions where and when passenger flows aresmaller, etc.) as well as detecting systematic transportation problems.

An OBU may, for example, be operable to communicate with any of avariety of Wi-Fi-enabled sensor devices equipped with a heterogeneouscollection of environmental sensors. Such sensors may, for example,comprise noise sensors (microphones, etc.), gas sensors (e.g., sensingCO, NO₂, O₃, volatile organic compounds (or VOCs), CO₂, etc.), smokesensors, pollution sensors, meteorological sensors (e.g., sensingtemperature, humidity, luminosity, particles, solar radiation, windspeed (e.g., anemometer), wind direction, rain (e.g., a pluviometer),optical scanners, biometric scanners, cameras, microphones, etc.). Suchsensors may also comprise sensors associated with users (e.g., vehicleoperators or passengers, passersby, etc.) and/or their personal devices(e.g., smart phones or watches, biometrics sensors, wearable sensors,implanted sensors, etc.). Such sensors may, for example, comprisesensors and/or systems associated with on-board diagnostic (OBD) unitsfor vehicles, autonomous vehicle driving systems, etc. Such sensors may,for example, comprise positioning sensors (e.g., GPS sensors, Galileosensors, GLONASS sensors, etc.). Note that such positioning sensors maybe part of a vehicle's operational system (e.g., a localhuman-controlled vehicle, an autonomous vehicle, a remotehuman-controlled vehicle, etc.) Such sensors may, for example, comprisecontainer sensors (e.g., garbage can sensors, shipping containersensors, container environmental sensors, container tracking sensors,etc.).

Once a vehicle enters the vicinity of such a sensor device, a wirelesslink may be established, so that the vehicle (or OBU thereof) cancollect sensor data from the sensor device and upload the collected datato a database in the Cloud. The appropriate action can then be taken. Inan example waste management implementation, several waste management (orcollection) trucks may be equipped with OBUs that are able toperiodically communicate with sensors installed on containers in orderto gather information about waste level, time passed since lastcollection, etc. Such information may then sent to the Cloud (e.g., to awaste management application coupled to the Internet, etc.) through thevehicular mesh network, in order to improve the scheduling and/orrouting of waste management trucks. Note that various sensors may alwaysbe in range of the Mobile AP (e.g., vehicle-mounted sensors). Note thatthe sensor may also (or alternatively) be mobile (e.g., a sensor mountedto another vehicle passing by a Mobile AP or Fixed AP, a drone-mountedsensor, a pedestrian-mounted sensor, etc.).

In an example implementation, for example in a controlled space (e.g., aport, harbor, airport, factory, plantation, mine, etc.) with manyvehicles, machines and employees, a communication network in accordancewith various aspects of the present disclosure may expand the wirelesscoverage of enterprise and/or local Wi-Fi networks, for example withoutresorting to a Telco-dependent solution based on SIM cards or cellularfees. In such an example scenario, apart from avoiding expensivecellular data plans, limited data rate and poor cellular coverage insome places, a communication network in accordance with various aspectsof the present disclosure is also able to collect and/or communicatelarge amounts of data, in a reliable and real-time manner, where suchdata may be used to optimize harbor logistics, transportationoperations, etc.

For example in a port and/or harbor implementation, by gatheringreal-time information on the position, speed, fuel consumption and CO₂emissions of the vehicles, the communication network allows a portoperator to improve the coordination of the ship loading processes andincrease the throughput of the harbor. Also for example, thecommunication network enables remote monitoring of drivers' behaviors,behaviors of autonomous vehicles and/or control systems thereof, trucks'positions and engines' status, and then be able to provide real-timenotifications to drivers (e.g., to turn on/off the engine, follow theright route inside the harbor, take a break, etc.), for example humandrivers and/or automated vehicle driving systems, thus reducing thenumber and duration of the harbor services and trips. Harbor authoritiesmay, for example, quickly detect malfunctioning trucks and abnormaltrucks' circulation, thus avoiding accidents in order to increase harborefficiency, security, and safety. Additionally, the vehicles can alsoconnect to Wi-Fi access points from harbor local operators, and provideWi-Fi Internet access to vehicles' occupants and surrounding harboremployees, for example allowing pilots to save time by filing reportsvia the Internet while still on the water.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a communication network 100, inaccordance with various aspects of this disclosure. Any or all of thefunctionality discussed herein may be performed by any or all of theexample components of the example network 100. Also, the example network100 may, for example, share any or all characteristics with the otherexample methods, systems, networks and/or network components 200, 300,400, 500-570, and 600, discussed herein.

The example network 100, for example, comprises a Cloud that may, forexample comprise any of a variety of network level components. The Cloudmay, for example, comprise any of a variety of server systems executingapplications that monitor and/or control components of the network 100.Such applications may also, for example, manage the collection ofinformation from any of a large array of networked information sources,many examples of which are discussed herein. The Cloud (or a portionthereof) may also be referred to, at times, as an API. For example,Cloud (or a portion thereof) may provide one or more applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs) which other devices may use forcommunicating/interacting with the Cloud.

An example component of the Cloud may, for example, manageinteroperability with various multi-cloud systems and architectures.Another example component (e.g., a Cloud service component) may, forexample, provide various cloud services (e.g., captive portal services,authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) services, APIGateway services, etc.). An additional example component (e.g., aDevCenter component) may, for example, provide network monitoring and/ormanagement functionality, manage the implementation of software updates,etc. A further example component of the Cloud may manage data storage,data analytics, data access, etc. A still further example component ofthe Cloud may include any of a variety of third-partly applications andservices.

The Cloud may, for example, be coupled to the Backbone/CoreInfrastructure of the example network 100 via the Internet (e.g.,utilizing one or more Internet Service Providers). Though the Internetis provided by example, it should be understood that scope of thepresent disclosure is not limited thereto.

The Backbone/Core may, for example, comprise any one or more differentcommunication infrastructure components. For example, one or moreproviders may provide backbone networks or various components thereof.As shown in the example network 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, a Backboneprovider may provide wireline access (e.g., PSTN, fiber, cable, etc.).Also for example, a Backbone provider may provide wireless access (e.g.,Microwave, LTE/Cellular, 5G/TV Spectrum, etc.).

The Backbone/Core may also, for example, comprise one or more LocalInfrastructure Providers. The Backbone/Core may also, for example,comprise a private infrastructure (e.g., run by the network 100implementer, owner, etc.). The Backbone/Core may, for example, provideany of a variety of Backbone Services (e.g., AAA, Mobility, Monitoring,Addressing, Routing, Content services, Gateway Control services, etc.).

The Backbone/Core Infrastructure may comprise any of a variety ofcharacteristics, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. Forexample, the Backbone/Core may be compatible with different wireless orwired technologies for backbone access. The Backbone/Core may also beadaptable to handle public (e.g., municipal, city, campus, etc.) and/orprivate (e.g., ports, campus, etc.) network infrastructures owned bydifferent local providers, and/or owned by the network implementer orstakeholder. The Backbone/Core may, for example, comprise and/orinterface with different Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting(AAA) mechanisms.

The Backbone/Core Infrastructure may, for example, support differentmodes of operation (e.g., L2 in port implementations, L3 in on-landpublic transportation implementations, utilizing any one or more of aplurality of different layers of digital IP networking, any combinationsthereof, equivalents thereof, etc.) or addressing pools. TheBackbone/Core may also for example, be agnostic to the Cloud provider(s)and/or Internet Service Provider(s). Additionally for example, theBackbone/Core may be agnostic to requests coming from any or allsubsystems of the network 100 (e.g., Mobile APs or OBUs (On BoardUnits), Fixed APs or RSUs (Road Side Units), MCs (Mobility Controllers)or LMAs (Local Mobility Anchors) or Network Controllers, etc.) and/orthird-party systems.

The Backbone/Core Infrastructure may, for example, comprise the abilityto utilize and/or interface with different data storage / processingsystems (e.g., MongoDB, MySql, Redis, etc.). The Backbone/CoreInfrastructure may further, for example, provide different levels ofsimultaneous access to the infrastructure, services, data, etc.

The example network 100 may also, for example, comprise a Fixed HotspotAccess Network. Various example characteristics of such a Fixed HotspotAccess Network 200 are shown at FIG. 2. The example network 200 may, forexample, share any or all characteristics with the other examplemethods, systems, networks and/or network components 100, 300, 400,500-570, and 600, discussed herein n.

In the example network 200, the Fixed APs (e.g., the proprietary APs,the public third party APs, the private third party APs, etc.) may bedirectly connected to the local infrastructure provider and/or to thewireline/wireless backbone. Also for example, the example network 200may comprise a mesh between the various APs via wireless technologies.Note, however, that various wired technologies may also be utilizeddepending on the implementation. As shown, different fixed hotspotaccess networks can be connected to a same backbone provider, but mayalso be connected to different respective backbone providers. In anexample implementation utilizing wireless technology for backboneaccess, such an implementation may be relatively fault tolerant. Forexample, a Fixed AP may utilize wireless communications to the backbonenetwork (e.g., cellular, 3G, LTE, other wide or metropolitan areanetworks, etc.) if the backhaul infrastructure is down. Also forexample, such an implementation may provide for relatively easyinstallation (e.g., a Fixed AP with no cable power source that can beplaced virtually anywhere).

In the example network 200, the same Fixed AP can simultaneously provideaccess to multiple Fixed APs, Mobile APs (e.g., vehicle OBUs, etc.),devices, user devices, sensors, things, etc. For example, a plurality ofmobile hotspot access networks (e.g., OBU-based networks, etc.) mayutilize the same Fixed AP. Also for example, the same Fixed AP canprovide a plurality of simultaneous accesses to another single unit(e.g., another Fixed AP, Mobile AP, device, etc.), for example utilizingdifferent channels, different radios, etc.).

Note that a plurality of Fixed APs may be utilized forfault-tolerance/fail-recovery purposes. In an example implementation, aFixed AP and its fail-over AP may both be normally operational (e.g., ina same switch). Also for example, one or more Fixed APs may be placed inthe network at various locations in an inactive or monitoring mode, andready to become operational when needed (e.g., in response to a fault,in response to an emergency services need, in response to a data surge,etc.).

Referring back to FIG. 1, the example Fixed Hotspot Access Network isshown with a wireless communication link to a backbone provider (e.g.,to one or more Backbone Providers and/or Local InfrastructureProviders), to a Mobile Hotspot Access Network, to one or more End UserDevices, and to the Environment. Also, the example Fixed Hotspot AccessNetwork is shown with a wired communication link to one or more BackboneProviders, to the Mobile Hotspot Access Network, to one or more End UserDevices, and to the Environment. The Environment may comprise any of avariety of devices (e.g., in-vehicle networks, devices, and sensors;autonomous vehicle networks, devices, and sensors; maritime (orwatercraft) and port networks, devices, and sensors; generalcontrolled-space networks, devices, and sensors; residential networks,devices, and sensors; disaster recovery & emergency networks, devices,and sensors; military and aircraft networks, devices, and sensors; smartcity networks, devices, and sensors; event (or venue) networks, devices,and sensors; underwater and underground networks, devices, and sensors;agricultural networks, devices, and sensors; tunnel (auto, subway,train, etc.) networks, devices, and sensors; parking networks, devices,and sensors; security and surveillance networks, devices, and sensors;shipping equipment and container networks, devices, and sensors;environmental control or monitoring networks, devices, and sensors;municipal networks, devices, and sensors; waste management networks,devices, and sensors, road maintenance networks, devices, and sensors,traffic management networks, devices, and sensors; advertising networks,devices and sensors; etc.).

The example network 100 of FIG. 1 also comprises a Mobile Hotspot AccessNetwork. Various example characteristics of such a Mobile Hotspot AccessNetwork 300 are shown at FIG. 3. Note that various fixed networkcomponents (e.g., Fixed APs) are also illustrated. The example network300 may, for example, share any or all characteristics with the otherexample methods, systems, networks and/or network components 100, 200,400, 500-570, and 600, discussed herein.

The example network 300 comprises a wide variety of Mobile APs (orhotspots) that provide access to user devices, provide for sensor datacollection, provide multi-hop connectivity to other Mobile APs, etc. Forexample, the example network 300 comprises vehicles from differentfleets (e.g., aerial, terrestrial, underground, (under)water, etc.). Forexample, the example network 300 comprises one or more massdistribution/transportation fleets, one or more mass passengertransportation fleets, private/public shared-user fleets, privatevehicles, urban and municipal fleets, maintenance fleets, drones,watercraft (e.g., boats, ships, speedboats, tugboats, barges, etc.),emergency fleets (e.g., police, ambulance, firefighter, etc.), etc.

The example network 300, for example, shows vehicles from differentfleets directly connected and/or mesh connected, for example using sameor different communication technologies. The example network 300 alsoshows fleets simultaneously connected to different Fixed APs, which mayor may not belong to different respective local infrastructureproviders. As a fault-tolerance mechanism, the example network 300 mayfor example comprise the utilization of long-range wirelesscommunication network (e.g., cellular, 3G, 4G, LTE, etc.) in vehicles ifthe local network infrastructure is down or otherwise unavailable. Asame vehicle (e.g., Mobile AP or OBU) can simultaneously provide accessto multiple vehicles, devices, things, etc., for example using a samecommunication technology (e.g., shared channels and/or differentrespective channels thereof) and/or using a different respectivecommunication technology for each. Also for example, a same vehicle canprovide multiple accesses to another vehicle, device, thing, etc., forexample using a same communication technology (e.g., shared channelsand/or different respective channels thereof, and/or using a differentcommunication technology).

Additionally, multiple network elements may be connected together toprovide for fault-tolerance or fail recovery, increased throughput, orto achieve any or a variety of a client's networking needs, many ofexamples of which are provided herein. For example, two Mobile APs (orOBUs) may be installed in a same vehicle, etc.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the example Mobile Hotspot Access Network isshown with a wireless communication link to a backbone provider (e.g.,to one or more Backbone Providers and/or Local InfrastructureProviders), to a Fixed Hotspot Access Network, to one or more End UserDevice, and to the Environment (e.g., to any one of more of the sensorsor systems discussed herein, any other device or machine, etc.). Thoughthe Mobile Hotspot Access Network is not shown having a wired link tothe various other components, there may (at least at times) be such awired link, at least temporarily.

The example network 100 of FIG. 1 also comprises a set of End-UserDevices. Various example end user devices are shown at FIG. 4. Note thatvarious other network components (e.g., Fixed Hotspot Access Networks,Mobile Hotspot Access Network(s), the Backbone/Core, etc.) are alsoillustrated. The example network 400 may, for example, share any or allcharacteristics with the other example methods, systems, networks and/ornetwork components 100, 200, 300, 500-570, and 600, discussed herein.

The example network 400 shows various mobile networked devices. Suchnetwork devices may comprise end-user devices (e.g., smartphones,tablets, smartwatches, laptop computers, webcams, personal gamingdevices, personal navigation devices, personal media devices, personalcameras, health-monitoring devices, personal location devices,monitoring panels, printers, etc.). Such networked devices may alsocomprise any of a variety of devices operating in the generalenvironment, where such devices might not for example be associated witha particular user (e.g. any or all of the sensor devices discussedherein, vehicle sensors, municipal sensors, fleet sensors road sensors,environmental sensors, security sensors, traffic sensors, waste sensors,meteorological sensors, any of a variety of different types of municipalor enterprise equipment, etc.). Any of such networked devices can beflexibly connected to distinct backbone, fixed hotspot access networks,mobile hotspot access networks, etc., using the same or differentwired/wireless technologies.

A mobile device may, for example, operate as an AP to providesimultaneous access to multiple devices/things, which may then form adhoc networks, interconnecting devices ultimately connected to distinctbackbone networks, fixed hotspot, and/or mobile hotspot access networks.Devices (e.g., any or all of the devices or network nodes discussedherein) may, for example, have redundant technologies to access distinctbackbone, fixed hotspot, and/or mobile hotspot access networks, forexample for fault-tolerance and/or load-balancing purposes (e.g.,utilizing multiple SIM cards, etc.). A device may also, for example,simultaneously access distinct backbone, fixed hotspot access networks,and/or mobile hotspot access networks, belonging to the same provider orto different respective providers. Additionally for example, a devicecan provide multiple accesses to another device/thing (e.g., viadifferent channels, radios, etc.).

Referring back to FIG. 1, the example End-User Devices are shown with awireless communication link to a backbone provider (e.g., to one or moreBackbone Providers and/or Local Infrastructure Providers), to a FixedHotspot Access Network, to a Mobile Hotspot Access Network, and to theEnvironment. Also for example, the example End-User Devices are shownwith a wired communication link to a backbone provider, to a FixedHotspot Access Network, to a Mobile Hotspot Access Network, and to theEnvironment.

The example network 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 has a flexiblearchitecture that is adaptable at implementation time (e.g., fordifferent use cases) and/or adaptable in real-time, for example asnetwork components enter and leave service. FIGS. 5A-5C illustrate suchflexibility by providing example modes (or configurations). The examplenetworks 500-570 may, for example, share any or all characteristics withthe other example methods, systems, networks and/or network components100, 200, 300, 400, and 600, discussed herein. For example and withoutlimitation, any or all of the communication links (e.g., wired links,wireless links, etc.) shown in the example networks 500-570 aregenerally analogous to similarly positioned communication links shown inthe example network 100 of FIG. 1.

For example, various aspects of this disclosure provide communicationnetwork architectures, systems, and methods for supporting a dynamicallyconfigurable communication network comprising a complex array of bothstatic and moving communication nodes (e.g., the Internet of movingthings). For example, a communication network implemented in accordancewith various aspects of the present disclosure may operate in one of aplurality of modalities comprising various fixed nodes, mobile nodes,and/or a combination thereof, which are selectable to yield any of avariety of system goals (e.g., increased throughput, reduced latency andpacket loss, increased availability and robustness of the system, extraredundancy, increased responsiveness, increased security in thetransmission of data and/or control packets, reduced number ofconfiguration changes by incorporating smart thresholds (e.g., change oftechnology, change of certificate, change of IP, etc.), providingconnectivity in dead zones or zones with difficult access, reducing thecosts for maintenance and accessing the equipment forupdating/upgrading, etc.). At least some of such modalities may, forexample, be entirely comprised of fixed-position nodes, at leasttemporarily if not permanently.

For illustrative simplicity, many of the example aspects shown in theexample system or network 100 of FIG. 1 (and other Figures herein) areomitted from FIGS. 5A-5C, but may be present. For example, the Cloud,Internet, and ISP aspects shown in FIG. 1 and in other Figures are notexplicitly shown in FIGS. 5A-5C, but may be present in any of theexample configurations (e.g., as part of the backbone provider networkor coupled thereto, as part of the local infrastructure provider networkor coupled thereto, etc.).

For example, the first example mode 500 is presented as a normalexecution mode, for example a mode (or configuration) in which all ofthe components discussed herein are present. For example, thecommunication system in the first example mode 500 comprises a backboneprovider network, a local infrastructure provider network, a fixedhotspot access network, a mobile hotspot access network, end-userdevices, and environment devices.

As shown in FIG. 5A, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backbone providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the first example mode 500 (or configuration) viaone or more wired (or tethered) links. For example, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to the localinfrastructure provider network (or any component thereof), fixedhotspot access network (or any component thereof), the end-user devices,and/or environment devices via a wired link. Note that such a wiredcoupling may be temporary. Also note that in various exampleconfigurations, the backbone provider network may also, at leasttemporarily, be communicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot accessnetwork (or any component thereof) via one or more wired (or tethered)links.

Also shown in FIG. 5A, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to any or all of theother elements present in the first example mode 500 (or configuration)via one or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered opticallink, etc.). For example, the backbone provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the fixed hotspot access network (or anycomponent thereof), the mobile hotspot access network (or any componentthereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one ormore wireless links. Also note that in various example configurations,the backbone provider network may also be communicatively coupled to thelocal infrastructure provider network via one or more wireless (ornon-tethered) links.

Though not shown in the first example mode 500 (or any of the examplemodes of FIGS. 5A-5C), one or more servers may be communicativelycoupled to the backbone provider network and/or the local infrastructurenetwork. FIG. 1 provides an example of cloud servers beingcommunicatively coupled to the backbone provider network via theInternet.

As additionally shown in FIG. 5A, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, thelocal infrastructure provider network may be communicatively coupled toany or all of the other elements present in the first example mode 500(or configuration) via one or more wired (or tethered) links. Forexample, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the backbone provider network (or anycomponent thereof), fixed hotspot access network (or any componentthereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one ormore wired links. Note that such a wired coupling may be temporary. Alsonote that in various example configurations, the local infrastructureprovider network may also, at least temporarily, be communicativelycoupled to the mobile hotspot access network (or any component thereof)via one or more wired (or tethered) links.

Also, though not explicitly shown, the local infrastructure providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the first example mode 500 (or configuration) viaone or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered optical link,etc.). For example, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the backbone provider network (or anycomponent thereof), the fixed hotspot access network (or any componentthereof), the mobile hotspot access network (or any component thereof),the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one or morewireless links. Note that the communication link shown in the firstexample mode 500 of FIG. 5A between the local infrastructure providernetwork and the fixed hotspot access network may be wired and/orwireless.

The fixed hotspot access network is also shown in the first example mode500 to be communicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot access network,the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one or morewireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling are providedherein. Additionally, the mobile hotspot access network is further shownin the first example mode 500 to be communicatively coupled to theend-user devices and/or environment devices via one or more wirelesslinks. Many examples of such wireless coupling are provided herein.Further, the end-user devices are also shown in the first example mode500 to be communicatively coupled to the environment devices via one ormore wireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling areprovided herein. Note that in various example implementations any ofsuch wireless links may instead (or in addition) comprise a wired (ortethered) link.

In the first example mode 500 (e.g., the normal mode), information (ordata) may be communicated between an end-user device and a server (e.g.,a computer system) via the mobile hotspot access network, the fixedhotspot access network, the local infrastructure provider network,and/or the backbone provider network. As will be seen in the variousexample modes presented herein, such communication may flexibly occurbetween an end-user device and a server via any of a variety ofdifferent communication pathways, for example depending on theavailability of a network, depending on bandwidth utilization goals,depending on communication priority, depending on communication time (orlatency) and/or reliability constraints, depending on cost, etc. Forexample, information communicated between an end user device and aserver may be communicated via the fixed hotspot access network, thelocal infrastructure provider network, and/or the backbone providernetwork (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot access network). Also forexample, information communicated between an end user device and aserver may be communicated via the backbone provider network (e.g.,skipping the mobile hotspot access network, fixed hotspot accessnetwork, and/or local infrastructure provider network).

Similarly, in the first example mode 500 (e.g., the normal mode),information (or data) may be communicated between an environment deviceand a server via the mobile hotspot access network, the fixed hotspotaccess network, the local infrastructure provider network, and/or thebackbone provider network. Also for example, an environment device maycommunicate with or through an end-user device (e.g., instead of or inaddition to the mobile hotspot access network). As will be seen in thevarious example modes presented herein, such communication may flexiblyoccur between an environment device and a server (e.g., communicativelycoupled to the local infrastructure provider network and/or backboneprovider network) via any of a variety of different communicationpathways, for example depending on the availability of a network,depending on bandwidth utilization goals, depending on communicationpriority, depending on communication time (or latency) and/orreliability constraints, depending on cost, etc.

For example, information communicated between an environment device anda server may be communicated via the fixed hotspot access network, thelocal infrastructure provider network, and/or the backbone providernetwork (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot access network). Also forexample, information communicated between an environment device and aserver may be communicated via the backbone provider network (e.g.,skipping the mobile hotspot access network, fixed hotspot accessnetwork, and/or local infrastructure provider network). Additionally forexample, information communicated between an environment device and aserver may be communicated via the local infrastructure provider network(e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot access network and/or fixed hotspotaccess network).

As discussed herein, the example networks presented herein areadaptively configurable to operate in any of a variety of differentmodes (or configurations). Such adaptive configuration may occur atinitial installation and/or during subsequent controlled networkevolution (e.g., adding or removing any or all of the network componentsdiscussed herein, expanding or removing network capacity, adding orremoving coverage areas, adding or removing services, etc.). Suchadaptive configuration may also occur in real-time, for example inresponse to real-time changes in network conditions (e.g., networks orcomponents thereof being available or not based on vehicle oruser-device movement, network or component failure, network or componentreplacement or augmentation activity, network overloading, etc.). Thefollowing example modes are presented to illustrate characteristics ofvarious modes in which a communication system may operate in accordancewith various aspects of the present disclosure. The following examplemodes will generally be discussed in relation to the first example mode500 (e.g., the normal execution mode). Note that such example modes aremerely illustrative and not limiting.

The second example mode (or configuration) 510 (e.g., a no backboneavailable mode) may, for example, share any or all characteristics withthe first example mode 500, albeit without the backbone provider networkand communication links therewith. For example, the communication systemin the second example mode 510 comprises a local infrastructure providernetwork, a fixed hotspot access network, a mobile hotspot accessnetwork, end-user devices, and environment devices.

As shown in FIG. 5A, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the localinfrastructure provider network may be communicatively coupled to any orall of the other elements present in the second example mode 510 (orconfiguration) via one or more wired (or tethered) links. For example,the local infrastructure provider network may be communicatively coupledto the fixed hotspot access network (or any component thereof), theend-user devices, and/or environment devices via one or more wiredlinks. Note that such a wired coupling may be temporary. Also note thatin various example configurations, the local infrastructure providernetwork may also, at least temporarily, be communicatively coupled tothe mobile hotspot access network (or any component thereof) via one ormore wired (or tethered) links.

Also, though not explicitly shown, the local infrastructure providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the second example mode 510 (or configuration) viaone or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered optical link,etc.). For example, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the fixed hotspot access network (or anycomponent thereof), the mobile hotspot access network (or any componentthereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one ormore wireless links. Note that the communication link(s) shown in thesecond example mode 510 of FIG. 5A between the local infrastructureprovider network and the fixed hotspot access network may be wiredand/or wireless.

The fixed hotspot access network is also shown in the second examplemode 510 to be communicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot accessnetwork, the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one ormore wireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling areprovided herein. Additionally, the mobile hotspot access network isfurther shown in the second example mode 510 to be communicativelycoupled to the end-user devices and/or environment devices via one ormore wireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling areprovided herein. Further, the end-user devices are also shown in thesecond example mode 510 to be communicatively coupled to the environmentdevices via one or more wireless links. Many examples of such wirelesscoupling are provided herein. Note that in various exampleimplementations any of such wireless links may instead (or in addition)comprise a wired (or tethered) link.

In the second example mode 510 (e.g., the no backbone available mode),information (or data) may be communicated between an end-user device anda server (e.g., a computer, etc.) via the mobile hotspot access network,the fixed hotspot access network, and/or the local infrastructureprovider network. As will be seen in the various example modes presentedherein, such communication may flexibly occur between an end-user deviceand a server via any of a variety of different communication pathways,for example depending on the availability of a network, depending onbandwidth utilization goals, depending on communication priority,depending on communication time (or latency) and/or reliabilityconstraints, depending on cost, etc. For example, informationcommunicated between an end user device and a server may be communicatedvia the fixed hotspot access network and/or the local infrastructureprovider network (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot access network).Also for example, information communicated between an end user deviceand a server may be communicated via the local infrastructure providernetwork (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot access network and/or fixedhotspot access network).

Similarly, in the second example mode 510 (e.g., the no backboneavailable mode), information (or data) may be communicated between anenvironment device and a server via the mobile hotspot access network,the fixed hotspot access network, and/or the local infrastructureprovider network. Also for example, an environment device maycommunicate with or through an end-user device (e.g., instead of or inaddition to the mobile hotspot access network). As will be seen in thevarious example modes presented herein, such communication may flexiblyoccur between an environment device and a server (e.g., communicativelycoupled to the local infrastructure provider network) via any of avariety of different communication pathways, for example depending onthe availability of a network, depending on bandwidth utilization goals,depending on communication priority, depending on communication time (orlatency) and/or reliability constraints, depending on cost, etc.

For example, information communicated between an environment device anda server may be communicated via the fixed hotspot access network and/orthe local infrastructure provider network (e.g., skipping the mobilehotspot access network). Also for example, information communicatedbetween an environment device and a server may be communicated via thelocal infrastructure provider network (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspotaccess network and/or fixed hotspot access network).

The second example mode 510 may be utilized for any of a variety ofreasons, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. Forexample, due to security and/or privacy goals, the second example mode510 may be utilized so that communication access to the public Cloudsystems, the Internet in general, etc., is not allowed. For example, allnetwork control and management functions may be within the localinfrastructure provider network (e.g., wired local network, etc.) and/orthe fixed access point network.

In an example implementation, the communication system might be totallyowned, operated and/or controlled by a local port authority. No extraexpenses associated with cellular connections need be spent. Forexample, cellular connection capability (e.g., in Mobile APs, Fixed APs,end user devices, environment devices, etc.) need not be provided. Notealso that the second example mode 510 may be utilized in a scenario inwhich the backbone provider network is normally available but iscurrently unavailable (e.g., due to server failure, due to communicationlink failure, due to power outage, due to a temporary denial of service,etc.).

The third example mode (or configuration) 520 (e.g., a no localinfrastructure and fixed hotspots available mode) may, for example,share any or all characteristics with the first example mode 500, albeitwithout the local infrastructure provider network, the fixed hotspotaccess network, and communication links therewith. For example, thecommunication system in the third example mode 520 comprises a backboneprovider network, a mobile hotspot access network, end-user devices, andenvironment devices.

As shown in FIG. 5A, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backbone providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the third example mode 520 (or configuration) viaone or more wired (or tethered) links. For example, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to the end-user devicesand/or environment devices via one or more wired links. Note that such awired coupling may be temporary. Also note that in various exampleconfigurations, the backbone provider network may also, at leasttemporarily, be communicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot accessnetwork (or any component thereof) via one or more wired (or tethered)links.

Also shown in FIG. 5A, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to any or all of theother elements present in the third example mode 520 (or configuration)via one or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered opticallink, etc.). For example, the backbone provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot access network (or anycomponent thereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices viaone or more wireless links.

The mobile hotspot access network is further shown in the third examplemode 520 to be communicatively coupled to the end-user devices and/orenvironment devices via one or more wireless links. Many examples ofsuch wireless coupling are provided herein. Further, the end-userdevices are also shown in the third example mode 520 to becommunicatively coupled to the environment devices via one or morewireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling are providedherein. Note that in various example implementations any of suchwireless links may instead (or in addition) comprise a wired (ortethered) link.

In the third example mode 520 (e.g., the no local infrastructure andfixed hotspots available mode), information (or data) may becommunicated between an end-user device and a server (e.g., a computer,etc.) via the mobile hotspot access network and/or the backbone providernetwork. As will be seen in the various example modes presented herein,such communication may flexibly occur between an end-user device and aserver via any of a variety of different communication pathways, forexample depending on the availability of a network, depending onbandwidth utilization goals, depending on communication priority,depending on communication time (or latency) and/or reliabilityconstraints, depending on cost, etc. For example, informationcommunicated between an end user device and a server may be communicatedvia the backbone provider network (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspotaccess network).

Similarly, in the third example mode 520 (e.g., the no localinfrastructure and fixed hotspots available mode), information (or data)may be communicated between an environment device and a server via themobile hotspot access network and/or the backbone provider network. Alsofor example, an environment device may communicate with or through anend-user device (e.g., instead of or in addition to the mobile hotspotaccess network). As will be seen in the various example modes presentedherein, such communication may flexibly occur between an environmentdevice and a server (e.g., communicatively coupled to the backboneprovider network) via any of a variety of different communicationpathways, for example depending on the availability of a network,depending on bandwidth utilization goals, depending on communicationpriority, depending on communication time (or latency) and/orreliability constraints, depending on cost, etc. For example,information communicated between an environment device and a server maybe communicated via the backbone provider network (e.g., skipping themobile hotspot access network).

In the third example mode 520, all control/management functions may forexample be implemented within the Cloud. For example, since the mobilehotspot access network does not have a communication link via a fixedhotspot access network, the Mobile APs may utilize a direct connection(e.g., a cellular connection) with the backbone provider network (orCloud). If a Mobile AP does not have such capability, the Mobile AP mayalso, for example, utilize data access provided by the end-user devicescommunicatively coupled thereto (e.g., leveraging the data plans of theend-user devices).

The third example mode 520 may be utilized for any of a variety ofreasons, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. In anexample implementation, the third example mode 520 may be utilized in anearly stage of a larger deployment, for example deployment that willgrow into another mode (e.g., the example first mode 500, example fourthmode 530, etc.) as more communication system equipment is installed.Note also that the third example mode 520 may be utilized in a scenarioin which the local infrastructure provider network and fixed hotspotaccess network are normally available but are currently unavailable(e.g., due to equipment failure, due to communication link failure, dueto power outage, due to a temporary denial of service, etc.).

The fourth example mode (or configuration) 530 (e.g., a no fixedhotspots available mode) may, for example, share any or allcharacteristics with the first example mode 500, albeit without thefixed hotspot access network and communication links therewith. Forexample, the communication system in the fourth example mode 530comprises a backbone provider network, a local infrastructure providernetwork, a mobile hotspot access network, end-user devices, andenvironment devices.

As shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backbone providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the fourth example mode 530 (or configuration) viaone or more wired (or tethered) links. For example, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to the localinfrastructure provider network (or any component thereof), the end-userdevices, and/or environment devices via one or more wired links. Notethat such a wired coupling may be temporary. Also note that in variousexample configurations, the backbone provider network may also, at leasttemporarily, be communicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot accessnetwork (or any component thereof) via one or more wired (or tethered)links.

Also shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to any or all of theother elements present in the fourth example mode 530 (or configuration)via one or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered opticallink, etc.). For example, the backbone provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot access network (or anycomponent thereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices viaone or more wireless links. Also note that in various exampleconfigurations, the backbone provider network may also becommunicatively coupled to the local infrastructure provider network viaone or more wireless (or non-tethered) links.

As additionally shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, thelocal infrastructure provider network may be communicatively coupled toany or all of the other elements present in the fourth example mode 530(or configuration) via one or more wired (or tethered) links. Forexample, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the backbone provider network (or anycomponent thereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices viaone or more wired links. Note that such a wired coupling may betemporary. Also note that in various example configurations, the localinfrastructure provider network may also, at least temporarily, becommunicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot access network (or anycomponent thereof) via one or more wired (or tethered) links.

Also, though not explicitly shown, the local infrastructure providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the fourth example mode 530 (or configuration) viaone or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered optical link,etc.). For example, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the backbone provider network (or anycomponent thereof), the mobile hotspot access network (or any componentthereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one ormore wireless links.

The mobile hotspot access network is further shown in the fourth examplemode 530 to be communicatively coupled to the end-user devices and/orenvironment devices via one or more wireless links. Many examples ofsuch wireless coupling are provided herein. Further, the end-userdevices are also shown in the fourth example mode 530 to becommunicatively coupled to the environment devices via one or morewireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling are providedherein.

In the fourth example mode 530 (e.g., the no fixed hotspots mode),information (or data) may be communicated between an end-user device anda server via the mobile hotspot access network, the local infrastructureprovider network, and/or the backbone provider network. As will be seenin the various example modes presented herein, such communication mayflexibly occur between an end-user device and a server via any of avariety of different communication pathways, for example depending onthe availability of a network, depending on bandwidth utilization goals,depending on communication priority, depending on communication time (orlatency) and/or reliability constraints, depending on cost, etc. Forexample, information communicated between an end user device and aserver may be communicated via the local infrastructure provider networkand/or the backbone provider network (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspotaccess network). Also for example, information communicated between anend user device and a server may be communicated via the backboneprovider network (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot access networkand/or local infrastructure provider network).

Similarly, in the fourth example mode 530 (e.g., the no fixed hotspotsavailable mode), information (or data) may be communicated between anenvironment device and a server via the mobile hotspot access network,the local infrastructure provider network, and/or the backbone providernetwork. Also for example, an environment device may communicate with orthrough an end-user device (e.g., instead of or in addition to themobile hotspot access network). As will be seen in the various examplemodes presented herein, such communication may flexibly occur between anenvironment device and a server (e.g., communicatively coupled to thelocal infrastructure provider network and/or backbone provider network)via any of a variety of different communication pathways, for exampledepending on the availability of a network, depending on bandwidthutilization goals, depending on communication priority, depending oncommunication time (or latency) and/or reliability constraints,depending on cost, etc.

For example, information communicated between an environment device anda server may be communicated via the local infrastructure providernetwork and/or the backbone provider network (e.g., skipping the mobilehotspot access network). Also for example, information communicatedbetween an environment device and a server may be communicated via thebackbone provider network (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot accessnetwork and/or local infrastructure provider network). Additionally forexample, information communicated between an environment device and aserver may be communicated via the local infrastructure provider network(e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot access network and/or backboneprovider network).

In the fourth example mode 530, in an example implementation, some ofthe control/management functions may for example be implemented withinthe local backbone provider network (e.g., within a client premises).For example, communication to the local infrastructure provider may beperformed through the backbone provider network (or Cloud). Note that ina scenario in which there is a direct communication pathway between thelocal infrastructure provider network and the mobile hotspot accessnetwork, such communication pathway may be utilized.

For example, since the mobile hotspot access network does not have acommunication link via a fixed hotspot access network, the Mobile APsmay utilize a direct connection (e.g., a cellular connection) with thebackbone provider network (or Cloud). If a Mobile AP does not have suchcapability, the Mobile AP may also, for example, utilize data accessprovided by the end-user devices communicatively coupled thereto (e.g.,leveraging the data plans of the end-user devices).

The fourth example mode 530 may be utilized for any of a variety ofreasons, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. In anexample implementation, the fourth example mode 530 may be utilized inan early stage of a larger deployment, for example a deployment thatwill grow into another mode (e.g., the example first mode 500, etc.) asmore communication system equipment is installed. The fourth examplemode 530 may, for example, be utilized in a scenario in which there isno fiber (or other) connection available for Fixed APs (e.g., in amaritime scenario, in a plantation scenario, etc.), or in which a FixedAP is difficult to access or connect. For example, one or more MobileAPs of the mobile hotspot access network may be used as gateways toreach the Cloud. The fourth example mode 530 may also, for example, beutilized when a vehicle fleet and/or the Mobile APs associated therewithare owned by a first entity and the Fixed APs are owned by anotherentity, and there is no present agreement for communication between theMobile APs and the Fixed APs. Note also that the fourth example mode 530may be utilized in a scenario in which the fixed hotspot access networkis normally available but are currently unavailable (e.g., due toequipment failure, due to communication link failure, due to poweroutage, due to a temporary denial of service, etc.).

The fifth example mode (or configuration) 540 (e.g., a no mobilehotspots available mode) may, for example, share any or allcharacteristics with the first example mode 500, albeit without themobile hotspot access network and communication links therewith. Forexample, the communication system in the fifth example mode 540comprises a backbone provider network, a local infrastructure providernetwork, a fixed hotspot access network, end-user devices, andenvironment devices.

As shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backbone providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the fifth example mode 540 (or configuration) viaone or more wired (or tethered) links. For example, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to the localinfrastructure provider network (or any component thereof), fixedhotspot access network (or any component thereof), the end-user devices,and/or environment devices via one or more wired links. Note that such awired coupling may be temporary.

Also shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to any or all of theother elements present in the fifth example mode 540 (or configuration)via one or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered opticallink, etc.). For example, the backbone provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the fixed hotspot access network (or anycomponent thereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices viaone or more wireless links. Also note that in various exampleconfigurations, the backbone provider network may also becommunicatively coupled to the local infrastructure provider network viaone or more wireless (or non-tethered) links.

As additionally shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, thelocal infrastructure provider network may be communicatively coupled toany or all of the other elements present in the fifth example mode 540(or configuration) via one or more wired (or tethered) links. Forexample, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the backbone provider network (or anycomponent thereof), fixed hotspot access network (or any componentthereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one ormore wired links. Note that such a wired coupling may be temporary. Alsonote that in various example configurations, the local infrastructureprovider network may also, at least temporarily, be communicativelycoupled to the mobile hotspot access network (or any component thereof)via one or more wired (or tethered) links.

Also, though not explicitly shown, the local infrastructure providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the fifth example mode 540 (or configuration) viaone or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered optical link,etc.). For example, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the backbone provider network, the fixedhotspot access network (or any component thereof), the end-user devices,and/or environment devices via one or more wireless links. Note that thecommunication link(s) shown in the fifth example mode 540 of FIG. 5Bbetween the local infrastructure provider network and the fixed hotspotaccess network may be wired and/or wireless.

The fixed hotspot access network is also shown in the fifth example mode540 to be communicatively coupled to the end-user devices and/orenvironment devices via one or more wireless links. Many examples ofsuch wireless coupling are provided herein. Further, the end-userdevices are also shown in the fifth example mode 540 to becommunicatively coupled to the environment devices via one or morewireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling are providedherein.

In the fifth example mode 540 (e.g., the no mobile hotspots availablemode), information (or data) may be communicated between an end-userdevice and a server via the fixed hotspot access network, the localinfrastructure provider network, and/or the backbone provider network.As will be seen in the various example modes presented herein, suchcommunication may flexibly occur between an end-user device and a servervia any of a variety of different communication pathways, for exampledepending on the availability of a network, depending on bandwidthutilization goals, depending on communication priority, depending oncommunication time (or latency) and/or reliability constraints,depending on cost, etc. For example, information communicated between anend user device and a server may be communicated via the localinfrastructure provider network, and/or the backbone provider network(e.g., skipping the fixed hotspot access network). Also for example,information communicated between an end user device and a server may becommunicated via the backbone provider network (e.g., skipping the fixedhotspot access network and/or local infrastructure provider network).

Similarly, in the fifth example mode 540 (e.g., the no mobile hotspotsavailable mode), information (or data) may be communicated between anenvironment device and a server via the fixed hotspot access network,the local infrastructure provider network, and/or the backbone providernetwork. Also for example, an environment device may communicate with orthrough an end-user device (e.g., instead of or in addition to the fixedhotspot access network). As will be seen in the various example modespresented herein, such communication may flexibly occur between anenvironment device and a server (e.g., communicatively coupled to thelocal infrastructure provider network and/or backbone provider network)via any of a variety of different communication pathways, for exampledepending on the availability of a network, depending on bandwidthutilization goals, depending on communication priority, depending oncommunication time (or latency) and/or reliability constraints,depending on cost, etc.

For example, information communicated between an environment device anda server may be communicated via the local infrastructure providernetwork and/or the backbone provider network (e.g., skipping the fixedhotspot access network). Also for example, information communicatedbetween an environment device and a server may be communicated via thebackbone provider network (e.g., skipping the fixed hotspot accessnetwork and/or local infrastructure provider network). Additionally forexample, information communicated between an environment device and aserver may be communicated via the local infrastructure provider network(e.g., skipping the fixed hotspot access network and/or the backboneprovider network).

In the fifth example mode 540, in an example implementation, theend-user devices and environment devices may communicate directly toFixed APs (e.g., utilizing Ethernet, Wi-Fi, etc.). Also for example, theend-user devices and/or environment devices may communicate directlywith the backbone provider network (e.g., utilizing cellularconnections, etc.).

The fifth example mode 540 may be utilized for any of a variety ofreasons, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. In anexample implementation in which end-user devices and/or environmentdevices may communicate directly with Fixed APs, such communication maybe utilized instead of Mobile AP communication. For example, the fixedhotspot access network might provide coverage for all desired areas.

Note also that the fifth example mode 540 may be utilized in a scenarioin which the fixed hotspot access network is normally available but iscurrently unavailable (e.g., due to equipment failure, due tocommunication link failure, due to power outage, due to a temporarydenial of service, etc.).

The sixth example mode (or configuration) 550 (e.g., the no fixed/mobilehotspots and local infrastructure available mode) may, for example,share any or all characteristics with the first example mode 500, albeitwithout the local infrastructure provider network, fixed hotspot accessnetwork, mobile hotspot access network, and communication linkstherewith. For example, the communication system in the sixth examplemode 550 comprises a backbone provider network, end-user devices, andenvironment devices.

As shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backbone providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the sixth example mode 550 (or configuration) viaone or more wired (or tethered) links. For example, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to the end-user devicesand/or environment devices via one or more wired links. Note that such awired coupling may be temporary.

Also shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to any or all of theother elements present in the sixth example mode 550 (or configuration)via one or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered opticallink, etc.). For example, the backbone provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the end-user devices and/or environmentdevices via one or more wireless links.

The end-user devices are also shown in the sixth example mode 550 to becommunicatively coupled to the environment devices via one or morewireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling are providedherein.

In the sixth example mode 550 (e.g., the no fixed/mobile hotspots andlocal infrastructure available mode), information (or data) may becommunicated between an end-user device and a server via the backboneprovider network. Similarly, in the sixth example mode 550 (e.g., the nofixed/mobile hotspots and local infrastructure mode), information (ordata) may be communicated between an environment device and a server viathe backbone provider network. Also for example, an environment devicemay communicate with or through an end-user device (e.g., instead of orin addition to the mobile hotspot access network).

The sixth example mode 550 may be utilized for any of a variety ofreasons, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. In anexample implementation, for example in which an end-user has not yetsubscribed to the communication system, the end-user device maysubscribe to the system through a Cloud application and by communicatingdirectly with the backbone provider network (e.g., via cellular link,etc.). The sixth example mode 550 may also, for example, be utilized inrural areas in which Mobile AP presence is sparse, Fixed AP installationis difficult or impractical, etc.

Note also that the sixth example mode 550 may be utilized in a scenarioin which the infrastructure provider network, fixed hotspot accessnetwork, and/or mobile hotspot access network are normally available butare currently unavailable (e.g., due to equipment failure, due tocommunication link failure, due to power outage, due to a temporarydenial of service, etc.).

The seventh example mode (or configuration) 560 (e.g., the no backboneand mobile hotspots available mode) may, for example, share any or allcharacteristics with the first example mode 500, albeit without thebackbone provider network, mobile hotspot access network, andcommunication links therewith. For example, the communication system inthe seventh example mode 560 comprises a local infrastructure providernetwork, fixed hotspot access network, end-user devices, and environmentdevices.

As shown in FIG. 5C, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the localinfrastructure provider network may be communicatively coupled to any orall of the other elements present in the seventh example mode 560 (orconfiguration) via one or more wired (or tethered) links. For example,the local infrastructure provider network may be communicatively coupledto the fixed hotspot access network (or any component thereof), theend-user devices, and/or environment devices via one or more wiredlinks. Note that such a wired coupling may be temporary.

Also, though not explicitly shown, the local infrastructure providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the seventh example mode 560 (or configuration) viaone or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered optical link,etc.). For example, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the fixed hotspot access network (or anycomponent thereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices viaone or more wireless links. Note that the communication link shown inthe seventh example mode 560 of FIG. 5C between the local infrastructureprovider network and the fixed hotspot access network may be wiredand/or wireless.

The fixed hotspot access network is also shown in the seventh examplemode 560 to be communicatively coupled to the end-user devices and/orenvironment devices via one or more wireless links. Many examples ofsuch wireless coupling are provided herein. Additionally, the end-userdevices are also shown in the seventh example mode 560 to becommunicatively coupled to the environment devices via one or morewireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling are providedherein.

In the seventh example mode 560 (e.g., the no backbone and mobilehotspots available mode), information (or data) may be communicatedbetween an end-user device and a server via the fixed hotspot accessnetwork and/or the local infrastructure provider network. As will beseen in the various example modes presented herein, such communicationmay flexibly occur between an end-user device and a server via any of avariety of different communication pathways, for example depending onthe availability of a network, depending on bandwidth utilization goals,depending on communication priority, depending on communication time (orlatency) and/or reliability constraints, depending on cost, etc. Forexample, information communicated between an end user device and aserver may be communicated via the local infrastructure provider network(e.g., skipping the fixed hotspot access network).

Similarly, in the seventh example mode 560 (e.g., the no backbone andmobile hotspots available mode), information (or data) may becommunicated between an environment device and a server via the fixedhotspot access network and/or the local infrastructure provider network.Also for example, an environment device may communicate with or throughan end-user device (e.g., instead of or in addition to the mobilehotspot access network). As will be seen in the various example modespresented herein, such communication may flexibly occur between anenvironment device and a server (e.g., communicatively coupled to thelocal infrastructure provider network) via any of a variety of differentcommunication pathways, for example depending on the availability of anetwork, depending on bandwidth utilization goals, depending oncommunication priority, depending on communication time (or latency)and/or reliability constraints, depending on cost, etc. For example,information communicated between an environment device and a server maybe communicated via the local infrastructure provider network (e.g.,skipping the fixed hotspot access network).

The seventh example mode 560 may be utilized for any of a variety ofreasons, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. In anexample controlled space implementation, Cloud access might not beprovided (e.g., for security reasons, privacy reasons, etc.), and full(or sufficient) coverage of the coverage area is provided by the fixedhotspot access network, and thus the mobile hotspot access network isnot needed. For example, the end-user devices and environment devicesmay communicate directly (e.g., via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, etc.) with theFixed APs

Note also that the seventh example mode 560 may be utilized in ascenario in which the backbone provider network and/or fixed hotspotaccess network are normally available but are currently unavailable(e.g., due to equipment failure, due to communication link failure, dueto power outage, due to a temporary denial of service, etc.).

The eighth example mode (or configuration) 570 (e.g., the no backbone,fixed hotspots, and local infrastructure available mode) may, forexample, share any or all characteristics with the first example mode500, albeit without the backbone provider network, local infrastructureprovider network, fixed hotspot access network, and communication linkstherewith. For example, the communication system in the eighth examplemode 570 comprises a mobile hotspot access network, end-user devices,and environment devices.

As shown in FIG. 5C, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the mobile hotspotaccess network is shown in the eighth example mode 570 to becommunicatively coupled to the end-user devices and/or environmentdevices via one or more wireless links. Many examples of such wirelesscoupling are provided herein. Further, the end-user devices are alsoshown in the eighth example mode 570 to be communicatively coupled tothe environment devices via one or more wireless links. Many examples ofsuch wireless coupling are provided herein.

In the eighth example mode 570 (e.g., the no backbone, fixed hotspots,and local infrastructure available mode), information (or data) mightnot (at least currently) be communicated between an end-user device anda server (e.g., a coupled to the backbone provider network, localinfrastructure provider network, etc.). Similarly, information (or data)might not (at least currently) be communicated between an environmentdevice and a server (e.g., a coupled to the backbone provider network,local infrastructure provider network, etc.). Note that the environmentdevice may communicate with or through an end-user device (e.g., insteadof or in addition to the mobile hotspot access network).

The eighth example mode 570 may be utilized for any of a variety ofreasons, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. In anexample implementation, the eighth example mode 570 may be utilized forgathering and/or serving data (e.g., in a delay-tolerant networkingscenario), providing peer-to-peer communication through the mobilehotspot access network (e.g., between clients of a single Mobile AP,between clients of respective different Mobile APs, etc.), etc. Inanother example scenario, the eighth example mode 570 may be utilized ina scenario in which vehicle-to-vehicle communications are prioritizedabove vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. In yet another examplescenario, the eighth example mode 570 may be utilized in a scenario inwhich all infrastructure access is lost (e.g., in tunnels, parkinggarages, etc.).

Note also that the eighth example mode 570 may be utilized in a scenarioin which the backbone provider network, local infrastructure providernetwork, and/or fixed hotspot access network are normally available butare currently unavailable (e.g., due to equipment failure, due tocommunication link failure, due to power outage, due to a temporarydenial of service, etc.).

As shown and discussed herein, it is beneficial to have a genericplatform that allows multi-mode communications of multiple users ormachines within different environments, using multiple devices withmultiple technologies, connected to multiple moving/static things withmultiple technologies, forming wireless (mesh) hotspot networks overdifferent environments, connected to multiple wired/wirelessinfrastructure/network backbone providers, ultimately connected to theInternet, Cloud or private network infrastructure.

FIG. 6 shows yet another block diagram of an example networkconfiguration, in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure. The example network 600 may, for example, share any or allcharacteristics with the other example methods, systems, networks and/ornetwork components 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500-570, discussed herein.Notably, the example network 600 shows a plurality of Mobile APs (orOBUs), each communicatively coupled to a Fixed AP (or RSU), where eachMobile AP may provide network access to a vehicle network (e.g.,comprising other vehicles or vehicle networks, user devices, sensordevices, etc.).

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of an example communication network 700, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The examplenetwork 700 may, for example, share any or all characteristics with theother example methods, networks, and/or network components 100-600, 800,and 1900 discussed herein. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the network 700includes a number of network components (e.g., cloud 760; vehicles 741,742; access points 726, 737, 738; and mobility controller 735). Thevehicles 741, 742; access points 726, 737, 738; and mobility controller735 each contain what may be referred to herein as a “network unit”(NU), represented in FIG. 7 as having respective NUs. In the context ofa vehicle, the NU may be part of, for example, an OBU, a mobile AP, andan MC/NC, as previously described above. The vehicles 741, 742 may beany of a variety of types of vehicles including, by way of example andnot limitation, an automobile, truck, taxi, van, bus, train, autonomousvehicle (AV), or the like.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, the mobileNUs may have a number of communication interfaces for various wired andwireless communication technologies and protocols, and may have accessto a number of communication methodologies including, for example, a“DIRECT” communication methodology that involves direct communicationwith the destination entity, an “OPPORTUNISTIC” communicationmethodology that communicates with the destination entity only when onespecific communication technology is available.), and an “EPIDEMIC”communication methodology that may deliver the message to the nextavailable networking neighbor of the entity sending a message. Thenetworking neighbor that sent the message is then responsible forcontinuing the delivery of the message to its own neighbor node(s),thereby transporting the message through various network entities untilthe final destination is reached. Examples of communication technologiesinclude, by way of example and not limitation, a direct short-rangecommunication technology (DSRC) such as, for example, IEEE 802.11p and aWi-Fi communication technology (e.g., IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ad/af), thatmay be used to provide connectivity to a specific access-point; aBluetooth® wireless communication technology that may be used to providevery short range (e.g., personal network range) connectivity; and acellular communication technology that may be used for longer rangeconnectivity (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), Global Systemfor Mobile communication (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA),time division multiple access (TDMA); etc. In accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure, NUs that are “fixed” rather than“mobile” may, for example, be configured to rely on “DIRECT”communication methodologies. Additional details of communicationmethodologies may be found, for example, in U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/272,750, entitled “Systems and Methods for RemoteSoftware Update and Distribution in a Network of Moving Things,”Attorney Docket No. 60271US01, filed Dec. 30, 2015; and U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/278,662, entitled “Systems and Methods forRemote Configuration Update and Distribution in a Network of MovingThings,” Attorney Docket No. 60272US01, filed Jan. 14, 2016, thecomplete subject matter of each of which is hereby incorporated hereinby reference, in its respective entirety.

A network of moving things in accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure is able to communicate data with both mobile andfixed NUs. For example, the mobile NUs 724, 725 in their respectivevehicles 742, 741 of FIG. 7 may not have continuous access to orcommunication with the data storage of cloud 760. In accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure, such mobile NUs may leverageany existing communication connections that are available such as, forexample, cellular, Wi-Fi, DSRC, or other suitable communicationtechnology. In accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure, mobile NUs such as, for example, the NUs 725, 724 of theirrespective vehicles 741, 742 of FIG. 7 may, for example, communicatewith fixed NUs such as, for example, the NUs 753, 737, 738 of FIG. 7,using the EPIDEMIC communication methodology, described above.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, varioussensors (e.g., sensors connected to NU 730) may not have direct accessto or be in communication with the data storage of the cloud 760, andtherefore may leverage the connectivity provided by an NU such as, forexample, the “relay” NU 724 of vehicle 742, to which they may connect.Such relay NUs (RNUs) may communicate with any such sensors, in order toenable any such sensors to communicate sensor data with, for example,the cloud 760.

The ever growing volume of information generated by the huge variety ofconnected devices raises constant challenges in providing reliabletransport for that data. Within a few years, with the continuedproliferation of the Internet of Things and further deployment of smartsensors, the transportation of the growing volume of data generated bysuch devices will present a tremendous challenge not only in terms ofthe amount of bandwidth required, but also with regard to connectivitycosts.

A network in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure,which may be referred to herein as the “Internet of Moving Things”(IoMT), provides a platform that is highly optimized for the transportof data generated by, for example, various sensors in the area served bysuch a network, in a very scalable way. Additional details regardinginterfacing among sensors and a network in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure may be found, for example, in U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/222,135, entitled “Systems andMethods for Collecting Sensor Data in a Network of Moving Things,”Attorney Docket No. 60034US01, filed Sep. 22, 2015. Additional detailsregarding adapting the granularity, bandwidth, and priority of sensingand disseminating data may be found, for example, in U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/253,249, entitled “Systems and Methods forOptimizing Data Gathering in a Network of Moving Things,” AttorneyDocket No. 60195US01, filed Nov. 10, 2015. The complete subject matterof each of the above-identified provisional patent applications ishereby incorporated herein by reference, in its respective entirety.

All of the data collected by elements in a network of moving things ispotentially valuable for a wide variety of applications and insights,most of which are yet to be discovered. End-to-end data integrity isimportant in any network, and is particularly so in a network such asthe IoMT of the present disclosure, considering the variety of elementsand processes involved in its acquisition. At the present time, just asmall fraction of the data collected from connected devices is actuallybeing used. However, network support for the collection of highdefinition data is of increasing importance. A network in accordancewith various aspects of the present disclosure provides the foundationsfor an analytics system that uses collected sensor and other data toprovide, for example, optimizations and predictions in a wide variety ofdifferent areas (e.g., transportation, environment, and/orcommunication).

The mobile and dynamic network infrastructure that provides support fora network of moving things such as that described herein may provide aninterface for a number of clients/customers/users such as, for example,third-parties that wish to test their own applications, vehicle fleetoperators that desire to deploy their own fully-managed services tocontrol and manage their fleets, and telecommunication network (telco)operators that want to expand their infrastructure (e.g., fiberinfrastructure, cellular infrastructure, etc.). Because a network ofmoving things according to various aspects of the present disclosure maybe used by a wide variety of different entities and applied for numerousapplications and purposes, the operation of such a network may usepolicies to, for example, control access to the network by each of theclients, and manage the use of the applications that are employed tomonitor, diagnose, and survey the status of the network elements and ofthe network environment. Such software applications that monitor andsurvey the network include, by way of example and not limitation,software applications that monitor the status of the critical hardwaremodules and system software applications to enable corrective action canto be taken when abnormal behavior is detected, software applicationsthat monitor network behavior to understand and evaluate how the networkis working and to diagnose possible problems, and software applicationsthat perform surveys/studies in the network to gather information fromthe network to help in deploying and configuring the network in anoptimal way.

Execution of such software applications by various network elements mayinvolve access to shared data available in the system (e.g., informationabout neighboring network elements, information about central processingunit (CPU) load, information characterizing/identifying availablesensing, communication, storage, or other technologies of a networkelement), access to particular sources of information (e.g., GlobalNavigation Satellite System (GNSS)/Global Positioning System (GPS)receivers, vehicle on-board diagnostic (OBD/OBD2) information, etc.).Execution of such software applications by network elements may alsoinvolve the use of certain levels of resources (e.g., a minimum/desiredamount of bandwidth used/needed to send data to, for example, the Cloud;the amount of memory/storage needed (e.g., disk space, flash memory,random access read/write memory, etc.), and each software applicationmay be assigned a priority that may be used to determine whether thesoftware application should run, or not run, when other softwareapplications that have their own assigned priorities are also present ona network element. Each software application may have a different modeof operation (e.g., may use a particular level of resources (e.g., acertain amount of data storage), or may have a certain sampling period),and in accordance with aspect of the present disclosure may bedynamically configured and adapted on-demand. In addition, such softwareapplications may receive inputs/data from a client/customer/user systemexternal to the network described herein (e.g., using an applicationprogramming interface (API) accessible, for example, locally or from theCloud) that may, for example, affect the modes of monitoring/surveyingperformed by the software application. A network of moving things inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure may decide whethersuch received inputs/data will be applied or enforced in the network,because more than one external source or entity may provide suchinputs/data.

A network of moving things in accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure enables the smooth and harmonized coexistence of avariety of software applications that perform monitoring in a highlydynamic and moving environment based on, for example, the contextinformation of the system itself (e.g., including wireless networkcontext information) and also the context of the vehicle(s) on whichnetwork elements are located. A network system in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure automatically adapts, for example, theassigned priority, the levels of assigned physical interfaces(PHY)/communication resources, the periods of time that the softwareapplication is active and inactive (e.g., turn-on/turn-off), the modesof operation of the software application, and the status of eachmonitoring application on a network element/node. Such a system mayadapt the granularity, sampling period, type of data, and the resourcesused by different monitoring applications, and may prioritize softwareapplications that perform monitoring and surveying, one over another, aswell as with respect to the client's services and software applicationsrunning on a network element (e.g., applications that provide Internetaccess, that perform data acquisition, etc.) such as, for example, amobile AP, fixed AP, or MC/NC. In this manner, a network of movingthings in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure mayprovide improved handling of the volatility of the resources and highmobility of nodes of the network.

The precision of positioning systems based on space-based references(e.g., receivers that employ radio frequency signals from GlobalNavigation Satellite System (GNSS)/Global Positioning System (GPS)satellites) strongly rely on having a clear, “line-of-sight” view ofsatellites in the sky view of the GNSS/GPS receiver. Thus, in typicalurban environments, tall buildings, narrow streets, and the remainingcity landscape degrade GNSS/GPS signal reception and, consequently, theprecision of the geographic position provided by the GNSS/GPS receiver.Without a clear view of a sufficiently large portion of the sky, areceiver for a GNSS does not work, as is the case of tunnels andoverpasses. Moreover, bad weather conditions may also affect the GNSSsignal and degrade the precision of a position derived from suchsignals. Traditional GNSS devices, due to the conditions mentionedabove, may have a very poor Time-To-First-Fix (TTFF), the measure of thetime required for a GNSS receiver to acquire satellite signals andnavigation data, and calculate a position solution (i.e., a “fix”). Thespeed of the process of acquiring the satellite signal and navigationdata depends upon the knowledge of satellite signal timing of thereceivers, which depends, in part, upon the location of the receiver andthe satellites currently in view of the receiver. A system in accordancewith various aspects of the present disclosure may use radio frequencysignals from terrestrial sources, referred to herein as “radio frequency(RF) wireless fingerprinting,” to immediately determine a position witha precision that depends on the quality of the RF fingerprinting or “RFsignature.” Urban environments are frequently dominated by aconsiderable density of wireless radio frequency networks, whether theyare public, private, commercial, governmental, or residential. The RFwireless fingerprint of such a wireless network environment may beleveraged to provide added value data for commercial purposes or, asdescribed herein, to create unique RF signatures of various geographiclocations.

The positioning system described herein may be used to enhance “deadreckoning” based positioning systems that use estimates of, e.g.,distance, direction, and/or time traveled to determine current position,e.g. inertial navigation, by using reliable and unique RF fingerprintsor signatures to re-calibrate such positioning systems. A positioningsystem in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure mayleverage a vehicular network platform that supports a “network of movingthings,” such as that described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/133,756, entitled “Communication Network of Moving Things,” filedApr. 20, 2016, the complete subject matter of which is herebyincorporated herein, by reference in its entirety. Such a platform maybe based upon a number of available wireless communication technologies(e.g. IEEE 802.11p/a/b/g/n/ac/ad/af, cellular, etc.) and may includeaccess points that, beyond connectivity, provide wireless RF signaturesin locations where use of a GNSS system for positioning information maybe very inefficient, or impossible. The amount of data involved intraining a positioning system such as that described herein isconsiderable, and the platform of an Internet of Moving Things accordingto various aspects of the present disclosure is ideal for the periodiccollection of RF fingerprinting or signature information in acost-effective manner.

A positioning system in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure may leverage wireless fingerprinting or signature informationproduced by a framework of what may be referred to herein as an Internetof moving things framework. Such a positioning system provides fastpositioning (i.e., “fix”) information for vehicles in situations whereother positioning systems are unavailable, unusable, or lack precision.A system in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosurealso provides a flexible and configurable scheme to detect when toacquire additional wireless fingerprinting data, and/or when tocorrelate such data with additional sources of information to improvethe accuracy of positioning of vehicles.

The position information determined by such a system may be used alongwith other positioning systems to improve an overall positioningsolution. Additional information about other positioning systemssupported by the framework of a network of moving things may be found inU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/336,891, entitled “Systemsand Methods For Vehicular Positioning Based On The Round-Trip Time OfDSRC Messages In A Network Of Moving Things,” filed May 16, 2016, thecomplete subject matter is which is hereby incorporated herein byreference, in its entirety. A positioning system in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure may include an API forpositioning using wireless information from mobile devices.

A positioning system using wireless fingerprinting according to variousaspects of the present disclosure may operate according to two phases ofactivity. The first phase may be referred to herein as a “trainingphase” during which training data is acquired, filtered, analyzed, andindexed to form a collection of wireless fingerprint sample data, whichmay be stored in what may be referred to herein as a “search server.”The second phase may be referred to herein as an “online phase” duringwhich one or more network elements (e.g., nodes, network units, mobileAPs), which may be mobile and may be located in one or more vehicles,may each take what may be referred to herein as a “wireless snapshot” oftheir respective wireless environments (i.e., a current “wirelessfingerprint sample” taken by a network element for the purpose ofrequesting a location estimate) and may each request a cloud-basedsystem (e.g., the “search server”) to perform a search for therespective positions of each vehicle using the respective “wirelesssnapshot.” This “wireless snapshot”/wireless fingerprinting sample mayinclude, for example, information identifying a set of terrestrialwireless signal sources such as access points (e.g., mobile and/or fixedAPs) within their reach/range of reception and the respective radiofrequency and signal strength (e.g., RSSI) of each such signal source.An example wireless fingerprint sample is shown in and discussed belowwith regard to FIGS. 14A-14B. In accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure, signals from additional terrestrial wireless (e.g.,radio frequency) signal sources may also be evaluated by, for example, amobile AP including, by way of example and not limitation, commercialradio frequency signal sources such as commercial business communicationand broadcast radio and television systems, cellular base stations, andboth public and private radio frequency signal sources such as, e.g.,residential, business, and public Wi-Fi “Hotspots.” The system(s) ofvehicles carrying mobile APs and/or a network unit/on-board unit(OBU)/mobile AP may provide location information, identifier(s) ofvisible satellite(s) and satellite signal strength(s), and otherparameters (e.g., quality indications such as dilution of precisioninformation) from an onboard GNSS/GPS receiver. It should be noted thatcertain infrastructure elements of a network according to the presentdisclosure such as, for example, fixed APs, may know their owngeographic locations (e.g., latitude and longitude) very accurately(e.g., to within three inches, to within a foot, to within a yard, towithin ten feet) and may wirelessly broadcast such location informationalong with other parameters (e.g., type of access point, a unique accesspoint identifier) to receivers within wireless communication range on aregular, intermittent, or periodic basis. Further, some network elementssuch as network units (NUs) and mobile APs may know their own geographiclocations because they may have clear views to satellites of a GNSSconstellation or have determined their own geographic locations usingother techniques, and may wirelessly broadcast/share their respectivegeographic locations and identity to other network elements (e.g., toNUs, fixed APs, mobile APs, etc.) Additional information about how amobile network element (e.g., mobile AP) may determine its owngeographic location using elements of a wireless network as describedherein may be found, for example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/596,380, titled “Systems and Methods for Vehicular Positioning Basedon the Round-Trip Time of DSRC,” filed May 16, 2017, the completesubject matter of which is hereby incorporated herein, by reference, inits entirety. The signals transmitted/shared by such infrastructureelements may be received by other network elements (e.g., mobile APs)that are operating in the training and/or online phases discussedherein, and those network elements may use that location information andparameters transmitted by the infrastructure elements as describedherein.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating the flow of data used forwireless fingerprinting, in accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure. The integration of a number of differentcomponents/mechanisms are involved in a system according to variousaspects of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 8, which showsacquisition of data representative of signals of the wirelessenvironment by a mobile AP (MAP) 810, communication of the acquired datavia a network referred to herein as the Internet of Moving Things (IoMT)820 and a Cloud Endpoint 830, Data Filtering functionality 840, SearchServer functionality 850, and a Positioning Application ProgramInterface (API) 860.

Acquisition of data used in training a wireless fingerprinting system inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure may beperformed by software running at one or more mobile APs (e.g., MAP 810)of the IoMT, which may correspond to, for example, the access points737, 738 and the OBUs of the vehicles 741, 742 of FIG. 7, for example.In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, thesoftware of those network elements may periodically trigger a scan ofthe wireless radio frequency (RF) environment by each of the wirelesscommunications interfaces of each MAP, to detect and identify sources ofradio frequency signals meeting certain criteria or characteristics(e.g., signal strength, signal frequency or upper and lower limits ofsignal spectrum, type of modulation, type of encoding, etc.). Suchcriteria/characteristics of such radio frequency sources may becollected as samples of RF environment data. In accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure, the portion(s) of RF spectrum scannedand the time interval between such scans may, for example, be influencedby a decay in the performance of the positioning system of the MAP 810over time. When the MAPs of the IoMT first begin operation, the scanningof the wireless RF environment of the MAP may be as frequent aspossible, to gather as much RF environment data as possible, to aid inproviding what may be referred to as “training data” to the wirelessfingerprinting mechanism according to aspects of the present disclosure.Geographic regions of particular interest and geographic regions not ofinterest may be defined, so that wireless scanning activity may beperformed with the greatest detail and accuracy in geographic areaswhere the wireless fingerprinting mechanism has detected a lack of suchtraining data. The wireless fingerprint sample data and associatedparameters representing the RF environment gathered by each of the MAPsmay be stored by the MAPs as it is acquired, and in accordance with someaspects of the present disclosure, such information may then beopportunistically sent to storage in the Cloud (e.g., Cloud 760 of FIG.7) using an IoMT framework. Additional information regarding theoperation of a suitable IoMT framework, including the IoMT 820 and theCloud Endpoint 830 of a network according to aspects of the presentdisclosure may be found, for example, in U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/257,421, entitled “Systems and Methods for DelayTolerant Networking in a Network of Moving Things,” filed Nov. 19, 2015,the complete subject matter of which is hereby incorporated herein byreference, in its entirety.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, theinformation representing the RF environment that is gathered by each ofthe MAPs is then sent for processing. As shown in FIG. 8, processing ofthe acquired data may include, for example, filtering the receivedsamples representing the RF environment using Data Filteringfunctionality 840 which, among other things, may detect outliers (e.g.,RF environment samples that are statistically unlikely to occur or thatare clearly erroneous due to corruption of data samples) and incompleteinformation (e.g., RF environment samples that are missing parametersthat may be needed to uniquely identify the source of the RF signal).The Data Filtering functionality 840 may employ one or more testconditions that are applied to the content/parameters of each collectedRF environment sample. For example, parameter values that are missing(e.g., those critical to use of the RF environment sample such as, e.g.,RF source identity, RF signal frequency, frequency band/channel, type ofmodulation, coding, and/or signal strength) may cause an RF environmentsample to be discarded/filtered out. In addition, parameter values thatare outside of an expected range (e.g., outside of a range of signalstrengths, a signal strength that is greater than or less than a priorRF signal strength measurement by more than a certain threshold amount(i.e., is inconsistent with prior RF environment samples), for the sameRF signal source when measured at a particular geographic location(e.g., latitude/longitude)) may cause an RF environment sample to bediscarded/filtered out. Parameter values having an associatedgeographic/physical location (e.g., latitude/longitude) that is outsideof a certain physical distance from a set of geographic coordinates maycause an RF environment sample to be discarded/filtered-out. Afteranalysis of the incoming data from the MAPs, the information may then beindexed in a search server such as, for example, the Search Serverfunctionality 850 of FIG. 8, which may employ a non-relational databaseto build a collection of wireless snapshot/wireless fingerprint sampledata (i.e., RF environment samples) as training data to be used by thewireless fingerprinting process. In accordance with some aspects of thepresent disclosure, each sample of the RF environment data may comprisean identifier of the source of the RF signal, which may be unique. Forexample, in the case of a Wi-Fi (e.g., IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ad/af)access point (a.k.a., “hot-spot”), such an identifier may include aService Set Identifier (SSID) that may be set to a unique characterstring, and/or a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) that may comprisecomponent fields that identify a manufacturer of the wireless networkinterface that is the signal source and that may also comprise one ormore additional component fields that are a unique serial number ormedia access control (MAC) address that is a unique identifier. VariousRF sources may transmit one or more different parameters that takenalone or in combination uniquely identify the RF source. It should benoted that some RF sources and “air interfaces” (also referred to hereinas “wireless communication protocols”) may have information/parametersavailable that are associated with the RF signal source and that thoseparameters may not be available for other RF signal sources (e.g.,parameters carried by Wi-Fi vs. those of GSM cellular vs. parameterstransmitted in commercial broadcast television signals). A system inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure may, for example,augment information from RF environment samples with information fromoutside information sources including, for example, data from governmentregulatory/licensing/enforcement databases of geographic locations oflicensed RF signal sources such as commercial television and radiostations, licensed business RF communication systems, transportation,municipal, and other users of RF communication links. For example, inthe United States of America, information about the geographic location(e.g., geographic coordinates such as latitude/longitude), operatingfrequencies, type of modulation, and operator identity/use of manysources of commercial RF signals (e.g., broadcast TV and radio, cellularnetworks, government, and business band services) is available ingovernment databases (e.g., the Federal Communication Commission (FCC))that may be accessed by a system in accordance with the presentdisclosure.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure,positioning/location information (e.g., latitude/longitude) may beaccessed via a Positioning API 860. The Positioning API 860 may be usedto access a geographic position calculated by an algorithm running atthe Search Server 850 using the collection of training data acquired bythe scanning process described above, based on additional inputinformation sent by the vehicle housing the MAP. Parameters communicatedwhen using the Positioning API 860 may include, for example,characteristics and/or descriptions of the various RF signal sources,similar to the information collected during the training phase discussedabove, but may be without geographic location (e.g., coordinate)information (as such coordinate information may be what is beingrequested by the entity using the API). In accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure, the Positioning API 860 may or maynot be exposed on the Internet as a service available tocustomers/clients. In accordance with certain aspects of the presentdisclosure, the API may be directly accessible through the wirelessnetwork of the IoMT to the software (e.g., software applications, systemsoftware, etc.) of the various network elements (e.g., MAPs(OBUs),FAPs(RSUs), NCs(MCs), etc.) of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example informationarchitecture 900 of a wireless fingerprinting data acquisition mechanismduring what may be referred to herein as a “training phase,” inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 9illustrates how RF environment/wireless snapshot samples flow and thevariety of RF signal sources that may be found in a network environmentas described herein. Further information about the communication of datasamples to a cloud-based system using a network as described herein maybe found, for example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/353,966,titled “Systems and Methods for Delay Tolerant Networking in a Networkof Moving Things, For Example Including A Network Of AutonomousVehicles” filed on Nov. 17, 2016, which is hereby incorporated herein byreference, in its entirety. Further information about the collection ofdata samples in a network as described herein may be found, for example,in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/213,26, titled “Systems andMethods for Collecting Sensor Data in a Network of Moving Things,” filedon Jul. 18, 2016, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, inits entirety. As shown in the illustration of FIG. 9, a mobile AP (MAP)930 equipped with a variety of different wireless communicationinterfaces (e.g., cellular 3G, 4G, 5G, LTE, CDMA, TDMA, GSM, etc.),Wi-Fi (e.g., IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ad/af, etc.), DSRC (e.g., IEEE802.11p), and/or wireless communication interfaces that are capable ofreceiving radio frequency signals in other portions of the RF spectrummay perform periodic wireless (i.e., radio frequency (RF)) scans toidentify any RF signal sources (e.g., access points) in the vicinity ofthe MAP 930 that are compatible with the wireless communicationinterfaces of the MAP. Such scans may, for example, be triggeredaccording to an amount of time since the last scan and/or according toan amount of distance traveled by the vehicle in which the MAP 930 islocated, and the type of trigger may be based on configurationinformation received by the MAP 930 from one or more cloud-based systems(e.g., systems of Cloud 760). In the scenario shown in FIG. 9, the MAP930 may identify two fixed APs (i.e., FAPs) equipped with DSRC (i.e.,FAP 910 and FAP 950), and multiple Wi-Fi APs of different types (i.e.,Residential Wi-Fi AP 920, Commercial Wi-Fi AP 960, and Public Wi-Fi AP940). The example of FIG. 9 is typical of a particular example urbanwireless landscape, noting that the number of APs in an actual urbanenvironment may be much higher, offering a richer population of thattype of wireless fingerprint sample data sources at any given geographiclocation. It should also be noted that although the RF spectrum used bycellular, Wi-Fi, and DSRC are given above as examples of RF wirelesssignals that may be scanned during the training phase described herein,those are only a few examples, as additional wireless signal sources(e.g., RF spectrum used by commercial broadcast, business, governmental,military, etc. signal sources) may be used without departing from thespirit and scope of the present disclosure. For example, the wirelesscommunication interface may comprise what is referred to as a “softwaredefined radio,” which may be dynamically configured to receive,demodulate, and decode signals using software algorithms loadedaccording to the RF spectrum and/or signal sources of interest. Thesoftware define radio of the wireless communication interface of aMAP/OBU may be pre-configured according to knowledge of the RF signalsources in a geographic region in which a vehicle in which the MAP/OBUis installed is currently traveling, or according to knowledge of the RFsignal sources along a route that the vehicle carrying the MAP/OBU iscurrently traveling, or is going to be traveling as some point in thenear future (e.g., within 2, 5, 10, 20, or 50 seconds, 1-60 minutes, ora few hours). Such software and/or knowledge of sources may bedownloaded to the MAP/wireless communication interface from a remotesystem such as a software management system or configuration managementsystem in accordance with the present disclosure.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, a wirelessfingerprinting application (e.g., a software application, and/orelectronic circuitry and/or logic) running on the MAP 930 may, forexample, store a radio frequency received signal strength indicator(RSSI) value, a Service Set Identifier (SSID), and a media accesscontrol (MAC) address (e.g., Basic Service Set Identifier, (BSSID)) foreach Wi-Fi AP that is detected by the Wi-Fi compatible wirelesscommunication interface of the MAP 930. Such Wi-Fi signal relatedinformation may, for example, be stored in association with asatellite-based or otherwise sourced (e.g., dead reckoning, inertialguidance, RF signal trilateration, etc.) geographic location at whichthe Wi-Fi signal and parameters were acquired by the MAP 930. Thewireless fingerprinting application running on the MAP 930 may also, forexample, store a value of a received signal strength indicator and aunique identification for each of the DSRC enabled FAPs 910, 950 of FIG.9. In a similar manner, such DSRC-related information may, for example,be stored in association with a satellite-based or otherwise sourcedgeographic location at which the

DSRC signal and parameters were acquired. For DSRC signal sources inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure, additional parametersincluding, for example, the geographic location broadcast by the DSRCsignal source, may also be associated or linked with the DSRC-relatedinformation discussed above. It again should be noted that although theexample and discussion of FIG. 9 addresses only access points/signalsources operating using DSRC and Wi-Fi wireless protocols, that does notrepresent a specific limitation of the present disclosure, as sources ofadditional and/or different wireless signals may be employed in awireless fingerprinting approach according to the present disclosure.Further, additional and/or different metrics or parameters that help todifferentiate or characterize the access points and/or wireless signalsources may also be employed including, for example, the form ofauthentication and/or encryption used by the signal source, thefrequencies/frequency band(s) in use by the signal source, informationidentifying the channel(s) in use, the type of AP/source, and/or thevendor of the AP/source. In addition, preferences of clients configuredfor operation through the MAP 930 may also be determined and recorded. Awireless fingerprinting application in accordance with various aspectsof the present disclosure may also associate with wireless fingerprintsample data, a number of parameters including, by way of example and notlimitation, location-related data such as, for example, the latitude,longitude, and/or altitude at which the wireless fingerprinting datasample(s) was/were acquired, as well as the speed and heading of thevehicle in which the acquiring MAP (e.g., MAP 930) is located, and GNSStime information provided by the GNSS (e.g., GPS) receiver of the MAP930. The wireless fingerprint sample data may also be associated withparameters such as a timestamp identifying when the sample data wasacquired, and a node ID or other identifier of the Mobile AP at whichthe wireless fingerprint sample data was acquired.

Once the data for each wireless fingerprinting sample of a wireless scanhas been acquired and stored at the MAP, the wireless fingerprint sampledata and associated parameters may then be sent to the Cloud (e.g.,Cloud 870 of FIG. 7) using, for example, an opportunistic datacommunication mechanism such as the IoMT framework described andreferenced herein. Additional details for a suitable data communicationmechanism may be found, for example, in U.S. Patent Application No.62/222,135, entitled “Systems and Methods for Collecting Sensor Data ina Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015, the completedsubject matter of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, inits entirety. In the example shown in FIG. 9, the mobile AP 930 isrepresented as being communicatively coupled to the fixed AP 950, whichis in turn communicatively coupled to the Internet 970. Using this path,the mobile AP 930 may transfer the wireless fingerprint sample data andassociated parameters to the Wireless Fingerprinting Data Flow 980,which may correspond to, for example, the data flow further details ofwhich are shown in and discussed above with regard to FIG. 8. Thewireless fingerprint sample data and associated parameters are thenprocessed at one or more systems in the Cloud (e.g., Cloud 870), inorder to, in part, discard samples that have inappropriate or missingvalues or samples that are outliers (e.g., when compared with previouslystored sample data). In accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure, a search server such as the “Search Server” 850 may thenindex the filtered data acquired during the “training phase” discussedabove, so that during what may be referred to herein as an “onlinephase,” the search server may rapidly look for matching wirelessfingerprint information, and perform an aggregation of results and inferthe most probable geographic location. In accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure, the algorithms used for indexing andsearching of fingerprint sample data and associated parameters may beselected to enable faster lookup of samples that meet thecharacteristics of a wireless snapshot obtained during the “onlinephase.”

FIG. 10 is a block diagram 1000 illustrating an example informationarchitecture of a wireless fingerprinting mechanism during what may bereferred to herein as a “online phase,” in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure. As shown in example of FIG. 10, the“online phase” scenario includes a Mobile AP 1030 capable of detectingsignals from two Wi-Fi APs 1010, 1020 and one Fixed AP 1040 equipped forDSRC communication. In order to determine its position, the Mobile AP1030 may acquire and forward information identifying and characterizingthe Wireless APs 1010, 1020, 1040 including, for example, the respectivesignal strengths of the Wireless APs 1010, 1020, 1040 as received by theMobile AP 1030, to the Positioning API 1060 (e.g., that may be locatedat the Cloud 760 of FIG. 7) via a wireless DSRC or cellularcommunication link and the Internet 1050. If it is critical for theowner/operator of the Mobile AP 1030 to know the position of the MAP1030 in real-time or near real-time, the information identifying andcharacterizing the Wireless APs 1010, 1020, 1040 and the respectivesignal strengths of the Wireless APs 1010, 1020, 1040 may be sent via,for example, a DSRC-capable fixed AP (if available), or via cellularconnectivity (e.g., at typically a higher cost), through the Internet1050, to the Positioning API 1060. If, however, the owner/operator ofthe Mobile AP 1030 does not require positioning information inreal-time, the information identifying and characterizing the WirelessAPs 1010, 1020, 1040 and the respective signal strengths of the WirelessAPs 1010, 1020, 1040 may, for example, be sent opportunistically (asdiscussed above), and a tracking history may be processed at the Cloudin an “offline” manner.

When performing real-time location, a positioning API in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure (e.g., the Positioning API1060) may retrieve the most suitable geographic location based on thedata provided by an API call to the Positioning API 1060. The algorithmperformed at the back end of the positioning API to provide thepositioning information may follow the following procedure. Theprocedure may first search the wireless fingerprint sample data andrespective parameters acquired during the “training phase,” to identifywireless fingerprint sample data for wireless APs matching the wirelessAPs currently detected by the Mobile AP (e.g., Mobile AP 1030). Theprocedure may then filter the identified wireless fingerprint sampledata to collect samples whose received signal strength match themeasured received signal strength indications to within a certain rangeor difference threshold. Next, the procedure may aggregate thecollection of filtered wireless fingerprint sample data, and may thendetermine the centroid of the aggregation using the geographic locationof each of the collected wireless fingerprint sample data. Although anumber of parameters of radio frequency signals have been identified inthe present disclosure, there are many more parameters that areavailable that may help in producing a most accurate location estimatefrom available signal sources captured during scanning of the wirelessenvironment. The use of such parameters, although not specificallyidentified herein, is believed to be within the scope of the presentdisclosure. Further logic may also be applied that may take intoconsideration variation of RF signal strengths and may employ different,potentially more complex decision algorithm(s) (e.g., considering theK-nearest neighbor nodes). Such more complex approaches may, however,require a greater amount of time to produce an estimate of the locationof the network node (e.g., MAP) of interest.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, portionsof the wireless fingerprint sample data acquired during the “trainingphase” (“training data”) may be downloaded to one or more Mobile APsbased upon, for example, the direction(s) of the vehicles carrying thoseMAPs, or a most probable path of travel, by taking historical pathinformation for the respective MAP into account. Position determinationusing downloaded wireless fingerprint sample data may be referred toherein as operating in a “Local Mode.” Such “Local Mode” positioningintelligence in a mobile AP may, for example, be employed to avoid theuse of cellular connectivity as much as possible, including connectivityto systems (e.g., server(s)) located in the Cloud, and may enableoperation when connectivity using wireless communication technologiessuch as, for example, DSRC (e.g., IEEE 802.11p), Wi-Fi (e.g., IEEE802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ad/af), or cellular (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, LTE, CDMA, TDMA,GSM, UMTS) is intermittent or non-existent. Such MAP-resident data iseven more useful when employed together with, for example, other sensorssuch as inertial sensors and/or vehicle sensors (e.g., vehiclenavigation system, wheel rotation, and/or autonomous vehicle sensors),to provide reliable checkpoints and enable recalibration of suchsensors.

FIGS. 11A-11C show a flowchart 1100 for an example method of performingvehicular positioning based on wireless fingerprinting data in a networkelement such as, for example, a network unit, on-board unit, or a mobileaccess point, in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure. Example network elements in which the method may be employedare described above and shown as the NUs 724, 725 of the vehicles 742,741, respectively, and the NUs of access points 726, 737, 738 in thecommunication network of FIG. 7. It should be noted that, while theactions related to the process of producing a location estimate using acollection of wireless fingerprint sample data, a current “wirelesssnapshot,” and optional satellite-based location estimate(s) may beperformed by a cloud-based system, such a process may also be performedby any of a number of different elements of a network as describedherein including, for example, a suitably equipped fixed AP, mobile AP,OBU, RSU, NC/MC, etc., without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present disclosure. The actions of the method of FIGS. 11A-11C maybe performed by one or more processors of a network element, and may beimplemented as one or more processes executing on such one or moreprocessors, wherein the one or more processes may run continually orintermittently as needed, once initiated. The method of FIGS. 11A-11Cbegins at block 1102.

At block 1102, the method may determine whether the network element(e.g., an NU, OBU, mobile AP) is operating currently in what may bereferred to herein as “training phase,” discussed above. If the networkelement is not operating in “training phase” (i.e., in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure, the network element may alternativelybe operating in “online phase”), the method may proceed to block 1118 ofFIG. 11B, discussed below. If, however, the network element is operatingin “training phase,” the method continues at block 1104, where themethod may determine whether a sample of the wireless environment of thenetwork element is to be captured. The network element performing themethod may, for example, determine that a sample of the wirelessenvironment is to be captured based upon an amount of time that haspassed since startup of the network element or since the last sample ofthe wireless environment was captured, based upon a physical distancethat has been traveled since startup of the network element or since thelast sample of the wireless environment was captured, and/or based uponwhether the network element has moved within a certain proximitydistance of a particular geographic location or within or outside of adefined boundary. It should be noted that the capture of samples of thewireless environment of a service area by a number of vehicles may notbe choreographed or coordinated (e.g., when the MAPs/OBUs/NUs are invehicles being driven for purposes other than acquisition of wirelessenvironment data), and may be performed by a number of network elementsin respective vehicles travelling in various directions about variousportions of a given geographic area or region.

If it is determined, at block 1104, that a sample of the wirelessenvironment is not to be captured, the method may continue at block1116, described below. If, however, it is determined, at block 1104,that a sample of the wireless environment is to be captured, the methodcontinues at block 1106. It should be noted that, in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure, the capture of samples of thewireless environment may not be choreographed, and may be performed by anumber of network elements in respective vehicles travelling in variousdirections about a given geographic area or region, without regard to aneed for the capture of samples in any certain portion of the givengeographic area driven by the operators of the vehicles. In this manner,the capture of samples identifying signal sources of the wirelessenvironment may, in effect, be crowdsourced, as the operators of thevehicles the network element of which are performing captures ofinformation about wireless sources and characteristics may be completelyunaware of the gathering and communication of such information.

At block 1106, the network element performing the method may use one ormore wireless (radio frequency (RF)) communication interfaces to scanthe wireless environment of the network element, to receive, identify,and save information for any wireless signal sources meeting definedcriteria. In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure,the defined criteria may include, for example, signals that appearwithin a certain portion of RF spectrum or at a certain frequency,signals that are received at or above a certain received signal strength(RSSI), signals that are modulated using certain types of modulation(e.g., differential phase shift keying (DPSK), quadrature phase shiftkeying (QPSK), orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM), etc.),and/or certain communication encodings/protocols (e.g., CDMA, TDMA, GSM,LTA, direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS), frequency hopped spreadspectrum (FHSS), etc.), parameters encoded/modulated on those wirelesssignals, and signal timings and data/symbol rates that aid in uniquelyidentifying the signal sources. It should be noted that many differentaspects of wireless signals may be characterized and represented as dataassociated with a radio frequency signal source, and the examplesprovided herein are not intended to act as limitations, but are merelyexamples of RF signal characteristics that may be represented by data aspart of wireless fingerprint sample data or wireless snapshot data.

Next, at block 1108, a determination is made as to whether anyterrestrial wireless signal sources were found that met the definedcriteria. If, at block 1108, it is determined that no terrestrialwireless signal sources were found during the scan of the wirelessenvironment of the network element, the method then continues at block1116, described below. If, however, it is determined, at block 1108,that one or more terrestrial wireless signal sources were found duringthe scan of the wireless environment of the network element, then themethod continues at block 1109, where the method determines whether anestimated location of the network element performing the method isavailable. Such a location estimate may, for example, be available froma receiver of signals of a satellite-based navigation system (e.g.,GNSS, GPS), or may be available from other navigational techniques(e.g., inertial, time-of-arrival using signals from other networkelements at known locations, etc.). If no estimated location of thenetwork element performing the method (e.g., a mobile AP) is available,the method then continues at block 1116. If, however, an estimatedlocation of the network element is available, then the method proceedsto block 1110, where data identifying the wireless signal source(s),data representative of one or more associated characteristics of thefound wireless signal source(s) (e.g., characteristics of the receivedsignals such as those types of data of the defined criteria), thecurrent date and/or time, and the current geographic location of thenetwork element (e.g., which may be mobile/moving) at the time thewireless signal source(s) were found are then associated with oneanother (i.e., as a wireless fingerprint sample or “wireless snapshot”),and saved in storage of the network element.

Next, at block 1112, a determination is made as to whether to upload thedata about wireless signal sources (i.e., the wireless fingerprintsample data) to a cloud-based system for storage and analysis. If, atblock 1112, it is determined that conditions at the network element(e.g., the cost, bitrate, reliability of available wireless networks foruse during the upload; the current demand on computing, wirelesscommunication, sensor data acquisition and/or processing resources ofthe network element; and/or configuration information at the networkelement received from the cloud based system) are such that an upload ofthe wireless fingerprint sample data is not to be performed at thistime, the method of FIGS. 11A-11C may continue at block 1116, describedbelow. If, however, it is determined, at block 1112, that conditions atthe network element are such that an upload of the wireless fingerprintsample data is to be performed at the current time then, at block 1114,the network element may transfer collected wireless fingerprint sampledata from storage of the network element to a cloud-based system (e.g.,the Cloud of FIG. 1 or Cloud 760 of FIG. 7). The method then continuesat block 1116, described below.

At block 1116, the method may determine whether the method is to exitthe “training phase.” The “training phase” may be exited when, forexample, other aspects of the network element have determined that noadditional wireless fingerprint sample data is needed. This may occur,for example, when the network element and/or a cloud-based systemdetermines that an amount of geographic area served by the networkelement in which the accuracy of location estimates derived usingwireless fingerprint sample data is unacceptable, is less than a definedthreshold. Unacceptable accuracy may occur, for example, when locationestimates derived using wireless fingerprint sample data for certainlocations are determined to lie outside of a defined maximum distancefrom an actual geographic location of the network element, where theactual geographic location may be determined or defined by, for example,mapping data and/or by satellite-based or other geo-location approachesthat are operable at acceptable measures of accuracy at those certainlocations. If it is determined, at block 1116, that the network elementis to exit the “training phase,” the method may then, at block 1117,change to “on-line phase” (e.g., by changing a program variable/hardwareregister that identifies whether the software/firmware/logic isoperating in the “training phase” or the “online phase”), and may thenproceed to block 1118 of FIG. 11B, described below. If, however, it isdetermined, at block 1116, that the network element is to remain in the“training phase,” the method may continue at block 1102, describedabove.

At block 1118 of FIG. 11B, the method of FIGS. 11A-11C, operating now inthe “online phase,” may make a determination as to whether a request foran estimate of the location of the network element performing the method(e.g., an NU, an OBU, or a mobile AP) has been received. Such a requestmay, for example, originate from a software application also running onthe one or more processors of the network element, or may be received bythe network element from, for example, another network element or acloud-based system, as described herein. If, at block 1118, it isdetermined that a request for a location estimate has not been received,then the method of FIG. 11B may proceed to block 1120, where the methodmay determine whether the one or more processors performing the methodhave received a request to enter the “training phase,” described above.If it is determined, at block 1120, that a request to enter the“training phase” has not been received, then the method may transfercontrol to block 1102 of FIG. 11A, described above. If, however, it isdetermined at block 1120 that a request to enter “training phase” hasbeen received then, at block 1122, the method may enter the “trainingphase” (e.g., by changing a program variable/hardware register thatidentifies whether the software/firmware/logic is operating in “trainingphase” or “online phase” to the “training phase”), and the method maythen proceed to block 1102 of FIG. 11A, described above.)

If, at block 1118, it was determined that a request for an estimate ofthe location of the network element performing the method (e.g., an NU,an OBU, or a mobile AP) was received, the method may then continue atblock 1124, where the one or more processors performing the method maydetermine whether a satellite-based location estimate is available. Asatellite-based location estimate may be available when, for example,the network element is equipped with an operating GNSS satellitereceiver that currently has a line-of-sight view of a certain minimumnumber (e.g., four) of satellites of the GNSS being used. If, at block1124, it is determined that a satellite-based location estimate is notavailable, the method may proceed at block 1126, described below. Asatellite-based location estimate may not be available when, forexample, the network element is not equipped with a GNSS receiver, thenetwork element is equipped with a GNSS receiver but the GNSS receiveris either not functional, or an insufficient number of satellites arewithin line-of-sight view of the GNSS receiver antenna. If, however, atblock 1124, it is determined that a satellite-based location estimate isavailable, then the method may continue at block 1128, described below.

At block 1126, the network element performing the method may capturedata of a current wireless fingerprint sample, also referred to hereinas a “wireless snapshot,” using the wireless communication interfaces ofthe network element, as described above, to receive, identify, andcharacterize the various wireless (i.e., radio frequency) signal sourcesin the wireless environment of the network element. The method may thencontinue at block 1132 of FIG. 11C.

At block 1128, the method may determine whether the availablesatellite-based location estimate meets a required or defined level ordegree (i.e., measure) of quality (e.g., accuracy). A GNSS receiver, orfunctionality of the network element, may use various operatingparameters of the visible satellites (e.g., received signal strength foreach satellite, a number of satellites in view, dilution of precision(DOP) information, and various other satellite system parameters) todetermine a measure of quality (e.g., accuracy) of location estimates(e.g., “fixes”) at any point in time. If, at block 1128, it isdetermined that the available satellite-based location estimate meetsthe required or defined measure of quality, it may be assumed that thesatellite-based location estimate is at least as accurate as a locationestimate derived using wireless fingerprint sample data, and the methodmay then, at block 1130, provide the satellite-based location estimate,meeting the required or defined measure of quality, in response to therequest for a location estimate for the network element. The method maythen proceed to block 1102 of FIG. 11A. If, however, at block 1128, itis determined that the available satellite-based location estimate doesnot meet the required or defined measure of quality, the method may thencontinue at block 1126, described above. It should be noted that therequired measure of quality, and any parameters used to specify therequired or defined quality of a satellite-based location estimate, maybe configured by a system that is remote from the network elementsperforming the quality decision such as, for example, a cloud-basedsystem, as described herein.

At block 1132 of FIG. 11C, the method determines whether the method isin “online phase.” If it is determined that the method of FIGS. 11A-11Cis not in the “online phase,” the method then continues at block 1102 ofFIG. 11A, which was described above. If, however, it is determined thatthe method of FIGS. 11A-11C is in “online phase,” the method continuesat block 1134, where the method determines whether the network element(e.g., NU, OBU, mobile AP) currently has wireless connectivity to theInternet, and in particular, to a cloud-based system supporting the useof a collection of wireless fingerprint sample data to produce alocation estimate from a current wireless snapshot provided by thenetwork element performing the method. If, at block 1134, it isdetermined that the network element (e.g., NU, OBU, mobile AP) currentlydoes not have wireless connectivity to the cloud-based system, themethod then proceeds to block 1142, described below. If, however, it isdetermined, at block 1134, that the network element currently does havewireless connectivity to the cloud-based system, the method continues atblock 1136.

At block 1136, the network element (e.g., NU, OBU, mobile AP) may send arequest for a location estimate to the cloud-based system (e.g., orother network element capable of generating a location estimate asdescribed herein), along with a satellite-based location estimate ofunverified quality (i.e., that may not or does not meet a required ordefined measure of quality (e.g., accuracy)). The method then continuesat block 1138, where the method determines whether a location estimatewas received from the cloud-based (or other) system in response to therequest. This determination may, for example, allow a certain amount oftime to pass for the cloud-based (or other) system to respond to therequest, before the method progresses further. If, at block 1138, it isdetermined that a location estimate has not been received from thecloud-based (or other) system, the method may then proceed to block1142, described below. If, however, the method, at block 1138,determined that a location estimate has been received from thecloud-based (or other) system, the method proceeds to block 1140, wherethe received location estimate is provided to the source of the requestfor a location estimate (e.g., a process or software program on thenetwork element performing the method of FIGS. 11A-11C), and the methodmay then transfer control to block 1102, shown in FIG. 11A.

At block 1142, the method may determine whether the network element(e.g., NU, OBU, mobile AP) has a relevant collection of wirelessfingerprint sample data able to be used in producing location estimates.The term relevant may be used in this context to refer to a collectionof wireless fingerprint sample data for the geographic area for whichthe network element may be requested to produce a location estimate. Asdescribed herein, such a collection of indexed wireless fingerprintsample data may, for example, be downloaded from a cloud-based systemthat produces such a collection, as described herein, to enable thenetwork element to produce location estimates when connectivity to thecloud-based (or other) system is not available. If it is determined, atblock 1142, that the network element does not have an indexed collectionof relevant wireless fingerprint data, then the method of FIG. 11C maycontinue at block 1148, described below. If, however, it is determined,at block 1142, that the network element does have an indexed collectionof relevant wireless fingerprint data, then the method of FIG. 11C maycontinue at block 1144.

At block 1144, the method may generate/produce, at the network elementperforming the method of FIGS. 11A-11C, an estimate of the location ofthe network element, using current wireless snapshot, the collection ofrelevant wireless fingerprint sample data (e.g., previously downloadedfrom a cloud-based system), and a satellite-based location estimate ofunverified quality. Then, at block 1146, the network element performingthe method may provide the location estimate to the source of therequest for a location estimate (e.g., a process or software program onthe network element performing the method of FIGS. 11A-11C), and themethod may then transfer control to block 1102, shown in FIG. 11A.

At block 1148, having determined at block 1142 that the network elementperforming the method does not have a suitable collection of relevantwireless fingerprint sample data, the network element may simply providethe satellite-based location estimate of unverified quality (i.e., notmeeting defined or required quality (e.g., accuracy)) to the source ofthe request for a location estimate (e.g., a process or software programon the network element performing the method of FIGS. 11A-11C), and themethod may then transfer control to block 1102, shown in FIG. 11A.

FIGS. 12A-12B show a flowchart 1200 for an example method of performingvehicular positioning based on wireless fingerprinting data in acloud-based system or other network element, in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure. Aspects of the method of FIGS.12A-12B may be performed by, for example, the Cloud of FIG. 1, the Cloud760 of FIG. 7, and/or any other elements of the networks described abovein relation to or shown in FIGS. 1 through 10 of the present disclosure.It should be noted that, while the actions related to the process ofproducing a location estimate using a collection of wireless fingerprintsample data, a current “wireless snapshot,” and optional satellite-basedor otherwise sourced location estimates may be performed by acloud-based system, such a process may be performed by any of a numberof different elements of a network as described herein including, forexample, a suitably equipped fixed AP, mobile AP, OBU, RSU, NC/MC, etc.,without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.The actions of the method of FIGS. 12A-12B may be performed by one ormore processors of a network element, and may be implemented as one ormore processes executing on such one or more processors, wherein the oneor more processes may run continually or intermittently, as needed, onceinitiated. The method of FIGS. 12A-12B begins at block 1202.

At block 1202, the method of FIGS. 12A-12B may determine whethersample(s) of training data (e.g., wireless fingerprint sample data) havebeen received from one or more mobile network elements (e.g., NUs,mobile APs, OBUs). If it is determined, at block 1202, that trainingdata of one or more wireless fingerprint samples has been received frommobile element(s), the method then continues at block 1204, where themethod may analyze the received training data samples, by filtering out“outliers” and samples with incomplete (e.g., missing) information. Theterm “outliers” may be used herein to refer to wireless fingerprint datasamples for which one or more data elements or parameters areinconsistent with others of the sample(s), or which are out-of-range forthe measurement that they represent such as, by way of example and notlimitation, geographic coordinates that are outside of a range of validvalues, an altitude value that is outside of a reasonable range ofvalues or invalid at the location defined by the geographic coordinatesof the sample, satellite signal strengths out of range or unacceptable,signal frequencies outside of those frequencies of interest for thisuse, etc. The method may then, at block 1206, integrate the filteredtraining data into a collection of wireless fingerprint sample data foruse by the location estimation process of the present disclosure. Thesamples in the collection of wireless fingerprint samples data may beindexed according to one or more of the common data elements orparameters of each wireless fingerprint sample such as, by way ofexample and not limitation, wireless signal source location (e.g.,latitude, longitude), wireless signal source signal frequency, wirelesssignal source geographic location, wireless signal source type, to namejust a few. The method may then continue at block 1202, described above.

If, at block 1202, it is determined that training data has not beenreceived from mobile element(s), the method may then continue at block1208, where a determination may be made as to whether a request for alocation estimate has been received from a mobile network element. If,at block 1208, it is determined that a request for a location estimatehas been received, then at block 1210, the method may produce/generate alocation estimate for the requesting network element (e.g., an NU, OBU,mobile AP), using the indexed collection of wireless fingerprint sampledata discussed above, and the received wireless snapshot representativeof the wireless environment of the network element.

At block 1212, the method may determine whether the location requestreceived by the network element included a satellite-based orotherwise-sourced location estimate meeting a defined or required levelor degree of quality (e.g., accuracy). If it is determined, at block1212, that the location request received by the network element did notinclude a satellite-based or otherwise-sourced location estimate meetingthe defined level or degree of quality, the method may then continue atblock 1222 of FIG. 12B. If, however, it was determined, at block 1212,that the location request received by the network element did include asatellite-based or otherwise-sourced location estimate meeting thedefined or required level or degree of quality, the method may thencontinue at block 1214 of FIG. 12B.

At block 1214 of FIG. 12B, the method may cause one or more processorsperforming the method to calculate a difference (e.g., an amount of“error”) between the estimated location of the mobile network element(e.g., NU, OBU, mobile AP) produced using the collection of wirelessfingerprint sample data, and the satellite-based or otherwise-sourcedlocation estimate meeting the defined or required level or degree ofquality (e.g., accuracy). Then, at block 1216, the method may determineif the calculated difference is less than or equal to an allowabledifference threshold, to determine whether the use of wirelessfingerprint sample data in producing location estimates is sufficientlyaccurate in the geographic area or region in which the mobile networkelement that requested a location estimate, is currently operating. Ifit is determined, at block 1216, that the calculated difference is lessthan or equal to the allowable difference threshold, the method mayproceed to block 1220, discussed below. If, however, it is found atblock 1216 that the calculated difference is not less than or equal tothe allowable difference threshold (i.e., is greater than the allowabledifference threshold), then the method of FIGS. 12A-12B may, forexample, at block 1218, request that the mobile network element thatrequested the location estimate enter the “training phase.” In this way,the determination that the accuracy of location estimates produced usingthe collection of wireless fingerprint sample data is less that thedefined or required level or degree of quality may trigger theacquisition and integration of additional wireless fingerprint sampledata into the collection used in generating location estimate(s), in aneffort to more completely characterize or map the wireless signalsources in the geographic area or region in which the collection ofwireless fingerprint sample data is found to be unreliable or to producelocation estimates of unacceptable quality. It should be noted that sucha request to enter “training phase” may be sent directly to thefunctional components of a mobile network element by other functionalelements of the requesting mobile network element, or may be send fromthe requesting mobile network element to, for example, a cloud-basedsystem that may manage or influence the current phase of operation(e.g., ‘training phase” or “online phase”) of the requesting mobilenetwork element. As previously discussed, a mobile network element may,in order to be able to produce a location estimate using a wirelesssnapshot, have the functionality described herein to download (e.g.,from a cloud-based system) and/or independently collect wirelessfingerprint sample data for use in producing/generating a locationestimate when, for example, network connectivity to the cloud-basedfunctionality for producing location estimates, is unavailable. Itshould also be noted that each mobile network element including, by wayof example and not limitation, NUs, OBUs, and/or mobile APs may, at anypoint in time, operate in “training phase,” independent from the currentoperating phase of other mobile network elements, because the accuracyof location estimates may vary across the geographic area served by themobile network element(s) of a network in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure, and additional wireless fingerprintsample data may be needed to “fill in” a map or characterization of thewireless environment represented by the collection of wirelessfingerprint sample data described herein.

At block 1220, the method of FIGS. 12A-12B may produce/generate alocation estimate for the requesting network element (e.g., an NU, OBU,mobile AP), using the indexed collection of wireless fingerprint sampledata discussed above, using the received wireless snapshotrepresentative of the wireless environment of the network element, andthe satellite or otherwise-based estimate of the location of the mobilenetwork element.

At block 1222, the method may send the location estimate to therequesting mobile network element, and then may proceed to block 1202,discussed above.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart 1300 of an example method of generating alocation estimate, in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure. Various aspects of the method of FIG. 13 may, for example,correspond to actions of block 1210 and/or block 1220 of FIGS. 12A-12B.Aspects of the method of FIGS. 13 may be performed by, for example, theCloud of FIG. 1, the Cloud 760 of FIG. 7, and/or any other elements ofthe networks described above in relation to and/or shown in FIGS. 1through 12B of the present disclosure. It should be noted that, whilethe actions related to the process of generating/producing a locationestimate using a collection of wireless fingerprint sample data, acurrent “wireless snapshot,” and optional satellite-based or otherwisesourced location estimates may be performed by a cloud-based system,such a process may be performed by any of a number of different elementsof a network as described herein including, for example, a suitablyequipped fixed AP, mobile AP, OBU, RSU, NC/MC, etc., without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The actions of themethod of FIG. 13 may be performed by one or more processors of anetwork element, and may be implemented as one or more processesexecuting on the one or more processors, wherein the one or moreprocesses may run continually or intermittently, as needed, onceinitiated. The actions of FIG. 13 begin at block 1302.

At block 1302, the method of FIG. 13 may analyze and filter the wirelesssnapshot data received for the request for a location estimate, toremove outlier wireless signal sources and incomplete signal sourceinformation. In this way, a wireless snapshot that contains one or moredata elements or parameters that have invalid values or are missinginformation may be detected and not used to produce what may be aninvalid location estimate. The method then proceeds to block 1304, wherethe method may determine whether the wireless snapshot data is usablefor performing a search of the collection of wireless fingerprint sampledata. If, at block 1304, it is determined that the data of the wirelesssnapshot is usable in performing a search of the collection of wirelessfingerprint sample data, the method may proceed to block 1316, discussedbelow. If, however, it is determined at block 1304 that the data of thewireless snapshot is not usable in performing a search of the collectionof wireless fingerprint sample data, the method may proceed to block1306.

At block 1306, the method determines whether the request for thelocation estimate was accompanied by a satellite-based (or otherwisesourced) location estimate of a defined or require level or degree ofquality. If it is determined, at block 1306, that such a locationestimate was not received for the requested location estimate, themethod proceeds to block 1314, discussed below. If, however, it isdetermined at block 1306 that a location estimate of a defined orrequired level or degree of quality was received for the requestedlocation estimate, the method may then proceed to block 1308, where themethod determines whether a search of the collection of wirelessfingerprint sample data was performed at block 1316, discussed below inregards to the other path exiting block 1304. If, at block 1308, it isdetermined that a search of the collection of wireless fingerprintsample data was not done at block 1316, the method may then proceed toblock 1312, discussed below. If, however, it is determined that a searchof the collection of wireless fingerprint sample data was done at block1316 then, at block 1310, the method may link the data of the wirelesssnapshot to the received satellite-based (or otherwise sourced) locationestimate of the define or required level or degree of quality, andintegrate the linked information into the collection of wirelessfingerprint sample data. In this way, new wireless fingerprint sampledata (in this instance, captured as a wireless snapshot for the locationrequest, and analyzed and filtered to remote outliers and incompleteinformation) and an associated satellite-based location estimate ofrequired or defined level or degree of quality, may be added to thecollection of wireless fingerprint sample data during the “onlinephase,” where none previously existed. The method may then continue atblock 1312.

At block 1312, the method of FIG. 13 may return, to the network elementthat requested the location estimate, a satellite-based locationestimate that is of a level or degree of quality of defined or requiredby the operators of the network of the present disclosure. The method ofFIG. 13 is then finished performing the method of generating/providing arequested location estimate.

At block 1314, having found at block 1304 that the data of the receivedwireless snapshot is unusable for searching the collection of wirelessfingerprint sample data, and having found at block 1306 that anysatellite-based location estimate received with the request for locationestimate is not of the defined or required quality, the method mayreturn to the requesting network element, an indication that the methodis unable to generate or provide a location estimate. The method of FIG.13 is then finished performing the method of generating/providing arequested location estimate.

At block 1316, having determined that data of a wireless snapshot thataccompanied the received request for a location estimate is usable, themethod may then search the collection of wireless fingerprint sampledata, to identify any wireless fingerprint samples that match thereceived wireless snapshot. The criteria that is used to determine whatconstitutes a match of the wireless snapshot with an entry in thecollection of wireless fingerprint sample data may include, by way ofexample and not limitation, that a certain percentage or fraction of thewireless sources identified in the wireless snapshot data are identifiedin the wireless fingerprint sample data, and/or that a satellite-basedor otherwise sourced location estimate that accompanied the wirelesssnapshot is within a certain geographic distance from a geographiclocation parameter of the wireless fingerprint sample data. As mentionedabove, the wireless fingerprint samples in the collection may be indexusing one or more of the data elements or parameters of the wirelessfingerprint sample data of the entries in the collection. FIGS. 14A-14B,discussed below, provide an example arrangement of an example set ofdata elements/parameters of a wireless fingerprint sample.

Next, at block 1318, the method of FIG. 13 may determine whether thesearch at block 1316, using the wireless snapshot received with therequest for a location estimate, was able to identify any wirelessfingerprint samples meeting the search criteria. If no wirelessfingerprint samples meeting the search criteria are found in thecollection, the method of FIG. 13 may then proceed to block 1306,discussed above. If, however, at block 1318, it is determined that oneor more wireless fingerprint samples meeting the search criteria usingthe received wireless snapshot have been found, then the method may thenproceed to block 1320.

At block 1320, the method determines whether the received request for alocation estimate was accompanied by a satellite-based (or otherwisesourced) location estimate, for the requesting network element, thatmeets the defined or required level or degree of quality. As discussedabove, the quality (e.g., accuracy) of a satellite-based locationestimate (e.g., “fix”) may be based upon one or more parameters of thegeometry of the satellites in line-of-site view of the network elementat which a location estimate for which a location estimate may begenerated. The GNSS/GPS receiver of such a network element may provideparameters that may be used to determine the effects of, for example,the geometry of the visible satellites relative to the receiver, thenumber of usable satellites, and other factors, upon the accuracy of asatellite-based location estimate. If, at block 1320, it is determinedthat a satellite-based (or otherwise sourced) location estimate thatmeets the defined or required level or degree of quality did notaccompany the request for a location estimate, then the method mayproceed to block 1324, where the method may return a location estimatecalculated using the wireless fingerprint sample data found by thesearch of the collection of wireless fingerprint sample data. Thecalculation of the location estimate may, for example, determine acentroid of the geographic locations identified in the identifiedwireless fingerprint sample data. It should be noted that asatellite-based location estimate that does not meet a required ordefined level or degree of quality (e.g., accuracy) may, in certaincircumstances, be employed in combination with wireless fingerprintsample data in producing/generating a location estimate, depending uponthe reason that the satellite-based location estimate fails to meet therequired or defined level or degree of quality. The method of FIG. 13 isthen finished performing the method of generating/providing a requestedlocation estimate. If, however, at block 1320, it is determined that asatellite-based (or otherwise sourced) location estimate that meets thedefined or required level or degree of quality did accompany the requestfor a location estimate, then the method may proceed to block 1322,where the method may return a location estimate calculated using thewireless fingerprint sample data found by the search of the collectionof wireless fingerprint sample data, and the satellite-based (orotherwise sourced) location estimate that may have accompanied therequest for a location estimate. In this case, the calculation of thelocation estimate may, for example, determine a centroid of thegeographic locations identified in the identified wireless fingerprintsample data and the satellite-based or otherwise sourced locationestimate for the network element about which the location estimate isrequested. The method of FIG. 13 is then finished performing the methodof generating/providing a requested location estimate.

The process of estimating a location based on the wireless fingerprintsample data described above may involve the calculation of the centroidof the wireless snapshot samples. In accordance with aspects of thepresent disclosure, those samples may be matched against the differentRF signal characteristics that the network node sensed and sent withinthe location estimation request. In view of the potentially volatilecharacteristic of RF signal strength, a system as described herein maydefine a relatively more limited range within which to filter thewireless snapshot samples collected during the training phase comparedto the relatively broader range of RF signal strength sensed by thenetwork node during the online phase described above. In accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure, more complex algorithms formulti-constraint decision processes may also be applied, and theirperformance may be evaluated in terms of accuracy and the amount of timeinvolved in computation of a location estimate. An example of one suchalgorithm may be found in the “K Nearest Neighbors” (K-NN) algorithm,but other suitable algorithms may be applied as well, without departingfrom the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, heuristics basedon a confidence measure for a certain sample of wirelessfingerprint/snapshot data may, for example, be used to build what may bereferred to herein as a cost function for each sample collected duringthe training phase. For instance, if a certain RF signal source has avery limited number of samples of wireless fingerprint data whencompared to others, the “weight” that those samples have in the finalestimation of location may be appropriately taken into accountconsidering more representative samples. Those samples may be seen as“outliers” within the final subset of samples that are considered in thelocation estimation.

FIG. 14A is a diagram showing an arrangement of various data elements orparameters for an example wireless fingerprint sample 1400, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The examplewireless fingerprint sample 1400 of FIG. 14A includes a wirelessfingerprint sample header 1410, and a number of wireless fingerprintsample signal sources 1420, 1430. The example wireless fingerprintsample header 1410 of FIG. 14A includes a number of data elements orparameters such as, for example, a wireless fingerprint identifier (ID)FP ID 1411 data element, a wireless fingerprint location FP Loc 1412data element, a wireless fingerprint time FP Time 1413 data element, anumber of signal sources NumSig 1414 data element, and one or more otherdata elements FP Other 1415.

The FP ID 1411 data element may, for example, comprise a network-uniquevalue incorporating an identifier of the network element that capturedthe wireless fingerprint sample data. The FP Loc 1412 data element may,for example, comprise a current estimated location of the networkelement that captured the wireless fingerprint sample data. The FP Time1413 data element may, for example, comprise a time stamp (e.g.,GNSS/GPS time) at which the wireless fingerprint sample data wascaptured. The NumSig 1414 data element may, for example, comprise avalue representing the number of wireless fingerprint sample signalsources contained in the wireless fingerprint sample 1400, as a wirelessfingerprint sample may comprise data for one or more wireless signalsources. The FP Other 1415 data element may, for example, comprise anyother parameters or data values that may be suitable for use in aparticular implementation in accordance with the present disclosure.

Each of the wireless fingerprint sample signal source entries 1420, 1430may be added to the wireless fingerprint sample, upon discovery of adifferent wireless signal source during scanning of the wireless networkenvironment of a network element of the present disclosure. As shown inFIG. 14A, the example wireless fingerprint sample signal source entry1420 of FIG. 14A comprises a wireless signal source Sig1 ID 1411 dataelement, a wireless signal source signal type Sig1 Type data element, awireless signal source signal frequency Sig1 Freq 1413, a wirelesssignal source Sig1 RSSI data element, a wireless signal source locationSig1 Loc, and one or more other data elements Sig1 Other 1416. Thewireless signal source Sig1 ID 1411 data element may, for example,comprise a network-unique value that may be based on the location, theradio frequency, and the type of the signal source. The wireless signalsource signal type Sig1 Type data element may, for example, comprise avalue representative of the type of signal (e.g., commercial radio, TVbroadcast; cellular (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, GSM, TDMA, and/or CDMA and theirservice providers, and/or network elements such as fixed APs and/ormobile APs). The wireless signal source signal frequency Sig1 Freq 1413data element may, for example, comprise a value representative of theradio frequency, range of radio frequencies, or radio frequency bandat/in which the signal source was detected. The wireless signal sourceSig1 RSSI 1414 data element may, for example, comprise a valuerepresentative of the radio frequency signal strength (e.g., receivedsignal power over a certain bandwidth) of the signal received from thesignal source. The wireless signal source location Sig1 GeoLoc 1415 dataelement may, for example, comprise one or more values (e.g., latitude,longitude, altitude, etc.) representative of a geographic location ofthe signal source, if available. The signals transmitted by some signalsources discussed herein including, for example, network elements suchas, by way of example and not limitation, mobile APs and/or fixed APsaccording to the present disclosure, may contain information identifyingthe current geographic location of the signal source. In accordance withaspect of the present disclosure, the wireless signal source locationSig1 GeoLoc 1415 data element of the wireless fingerprint sample signalsource entries for such a signal source may reflect the geographiclocation of the signal source, which may be used to more accuratelyestimate the location of a network element capturing such a signalsource during a scan of the wireless environment of the network element.Finally, the one or more other data elements Sig1 Other 1416 may, forexample, comprise any other parameters or data values that pertain tocharacteristics of a wireless signal source that may be suitable for usein a particular implementation of the concepts disclosed herein.

FIG. 14B is a diagram showing an example collection 1450 of wirelessfingerprint sample data entries FP1 1451, FP2 1452, and FPm 1453 thatmay, for example, correspond to the example wireless fingerprint sample1400 of FIG. 14A, in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure. The example collection of wireless fingerprint sample dataentries 1451, 1452, 1453 of FIG. 14B are represented as occupyingdifferent amount of storage, due to a different number of wirelesssignal sources in each of the wireless fingerprint sample data entries1451, 1452, 1453. As discussed above, the wireless fingerprint sampledata entries 1451, 1452, 1453 may be integrated into the collection, andmay be indexed according to values of one or more of the data elementsor parameters common to the wireless fingerprint sample data entries1451, 1452, 1453. Such indexing may involve linking or organizingwireless fingerprint sample data according to the data elements ofparameters used for indexing, to enable fast access of related entriesin the collection. As also discussed above, such a collection ofwireless fingerprint sample data 1450 may reside at a cloud-based system(e.g., at Cloud 100 of FIG. 1 or Cloud 760 of FIG. 7) and may beaccessible to all elements of the network of the present disclosure,and/or same or different portions, or all of the collection of wirelessfingerprint sample data 1450 may be downloaded to one or more networkelements for local use in performing the generation or provision oflocation estimates, to avoid the load of location-related networktraffic, communication costs, and potential inaccessibility associatedwith the use of a cloud-based resource and collection of wirelessfingerprint sample data.

Each of the identified data elements or parameters in a wirelessfingerprint sample may be produced by a scanning of the wirelessenvironment and represented as binary data, a string of characters, orany other representation suitable to record the value of the dataelement or parameter.

As can be appreciated upon studying the present application, apositioning system in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure works with any wireless communication technology, and worksin geographic areas where GNSS-based positioning approaches fail, orlack adequate precision. Aspects of the positioning approach describedherein help to provide an immediate position solution, helpingGNSS-based positioning systems to achieve a reduced Time-To-First Fix,which typically varies over a large range depending on conditions (e.g.,time since last fix, change in GNSS receiver location since last fix,obstructions impairing receiver line of sight view of satellites, etc.),and can act as valuable input to enhance the performance of otherpositioning systems. In addition, aspects of the present approachleverage what in many applications of an IoMT platform is a potentiallylarge population of wireless fingerprinting data sources and therefore,a comprehensive collection of samples over the geographic region servedby the IoMT platform.

The demand for an always reliable and precise positioning system isgreater than ever given the value that positioning information from sucha positioning system may add to a large number of industries andbusinesses. The potential applications range from marketing purposes,security, insurance, transportation, and the automotive industry, whichis being revolutionized by autonomous vehicles.

The system herein described herein adds value to those applications,whether it is used as a sole positioning solution, or combined withother positioning systems, and can improve the final position precision.Moreover, aspects of the present disclosure can provide position fixesin geographic areas where traditional GNSS-based (e.g., GPS) approachescannot. For instance, various aspects of the present disclosure are ableto provide positioning information for vehicles located in the middle of“container canyons” in a harbor, in “urban canyons” (e.g., tallbuildings) in cities, in closed parking lots, in tunnels, and in harsh,controlled spaces such as a mining site.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, a positionsystem as described may automatically re-enter a “training phase” whennetwork elements determine that accuracy levels of position solutionshave degraded below an acceptable level, and may determine howfrequently (e.g., what interval of time between periods of additionaltraining is appropriate) to maintain positioning accuracy based onobserved degradation of position solutions. It should be again notedthat the examples presented herein that employ radio frequency signalsfrom network elements using DSRC and Wi-Fi wireless communication areintended to illustrate the innovative approaches disclosed, and that theuse of DSRC and/or Wi-Fi RF communication does not represent a specificlimitation of the present disclosure, as other signal sources may beused as described herein. Further, although the disclosure providesexamples of use of Cloud-based positioning resources, aspects of thepresent disclosure include the use of positioning functionality locatedin mobile APs employing wireless fingerprinting data gathered from otherfixed and mobile network elements. In addition, the innovativetechniques described herein may be combined with other positioningapproaches to improve the accuracy and reliability of positioningresults. For example, various aspects of the present disclosure may beintegrated with other positioning systems such as, for example, thepositioning approach described in U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 62/336,891, entitled “Systems and Methods for Vehicular PositioningBased on the Round-Trip Time of DSRC Messages in a Network of MovingThings,” filed May 16, 2016, the complete subject matter of which ishereby incorporated herein, in its entirety. Such an integrated approachmay assist in the positioning computation by, for example, eliminatingpossible ambiguities when in doubt between different candidatepositions.

A system in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosureenable accuracy and rapid positioning information using wirelessfingerprinting by adding signal sources (e.g., FAPs) with accuratelydetermined geographic locations to the myriad of sources (e.g.,residential/commercial/public Wi-Fi, government, commercial broadcastradio and television, business band, security, and others) now present,but the accurate geographic locations of which are not necessarilyknown. A positioning solution according to various aspects of thepresent disclosure supports the collection and delivery of associatedposition and wireless environment data, associated parameters, andpositioning information to a central/cloud server in near-real time.Aspects of the present disclosure enable the sensing and recording oflarge volumes of wireless fingerprint sample data and associatedparameters on an ongoing basis, limited only by the number of vehiclesequipped with MAPs and the variety of paths travelled by MAP-equippedvehicles (i.e., including all possible vehicle directions and routes),in contrast to prior art solutions in which a limited number of vehicles(e.g., one) travel each street in one direction, and do not travel overall traversable geographic locations (e.g., parking lots/garages,private roads, all lanes/exits/entrances of all highways). A system inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure is able to provide amore complete sampling of the wireless environment, and thereforeprovide a more complete positioning solution, usable over a greater areabased on sampling taken on a more frequent update basis, 24 hours aday/7 days a week/365 days a year, an improvement over prior artsolutions.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, systemsand methods are provided that manage a vehicle communication network,for example in accordance with the location of nodes and end devices, ina way that provides for stable TCP/IP Internet access, among otherthings. For example, an end user may be provided with a clean and stableWi-Fi Internet connection that may appear to the end user to be the sameas the Wi-Fi Internet connection at the user's home, user's workplace,fixed public Wi-Fi hotspots, etc. For example, for a user utilizing acommunication network as described herein, a TCP session may stayactive, downloads may process normally, calls may proceed withoutinterruption, etc. As discussed herein, a vehicle communication networkin accordance with various aspects of this disclosure may be applied asa transport layer for regular Internet traffic and/or for privatenetwork traffic (e.g., extending the access of customer private LANsfrom the wired network to vehicles and users around them, etc.).

In accordance with an example network implementation, although a usermight be always connected to a single Wi-Fi AP of a vehicle, the vehicle(or the access point thereof, for example an OBU) is moving betweenmultiple access points (e.g., Fixed APs, other Mobile APs, cellular basestations, fixed Wi-Fi hotspots, etc.). For example, mobility managementimplemented in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosuresupports the mobility of each vehicle and its users across differentcommunication technologies (e.g., 802.11p, cellular, Wi-Fi, etc.) as theMobile APs migrate among Fixed APs (and/or Mobile APs) and/or as usersmigrate between Mobile APs.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, a mobilitycontroller (MC), which may also be referred to as an LMA or NetworkController, may monitor the location (e.g., network location, etc.) ofvarious nodes (e.g., Mobile APs, etc.) and/or the location of end usersconnected through them. The mobility controller (MC) may, for example,provide seamless handovers (e.g., maintaining communication sessioncontinuity) between different access points and/or differenttechnologies with low link latency and low handover times.

The architecture provided herein is scalable, for example takingadvantage of redundant elements and/or functionality to provideload-balancing of control and/or data communication functionality, aswell as to decrease failure probability. Various aspects of the presentdisclosure also provide for decreased control signaling (e.g., in amountand/or frequency), which reduces the control overhead and reduces thesize of control tables and tunneling, for example both in backendservers and in APs (e.g., Fixed APs and/or Mobile APs).

Additionally, a communication network (or components thereof) inaccordance with various aspects of this disclosure may comprise theability to interact with mobile devices in order to control some or allof their connection choices and/or to leverage their controlfunctionality. For example, in an example implementation, a mobileapplication can run in the background, managing the available networksand/or nodes thereof and selecting the one that best fits, and thentriggering a handoff to the selected network (or node thereof) beforebreakdown of the current connection.

Various aspects of the present disclosure may be seen in a method ofvehicular positioning of nodes of a radio frequency (RF) wirelessnetwork comprising a plurality of nodes disposed at respective fixedlocations and a plurality of mobile nodes that reside in respectivevehicles that move within a service area of the wireless network. Eachnode of the plurality of nodes may comprise one or more communicationinterfaces configured for scanning an RF wireless environment of therespective node. Such a method may comprise periodically receivingrespective wireless fingerprint sample data generated by each mobilenode of the plurality of mobile nodes, where the wireless fingerprintsample data may comprise data elements characterizing RF signalsreceived by the mobile node from RF signal sources during scanning ofthe RF wireless environment of the mobile node and a correspondinggeographic location within the service area at which the RF signals werereceived. The method may comprise forming a collection of the wirelessfingerprint sample data received from the plurality of mobile nodes, andreceiving a request for an estimated geographic location of a particularmobile node of the plurality of mobile nodes. The method may furthercomprise searching the collection using a wireless snapshot comprisingdata elements characterizing RF signals received in a current RFwireless environment of the particular mobile node, to identify wirelessfingerprint samples of the collection that match the data elements ofthe wireless snapshot; and calculating an estimated location of theparticular mobile node using the identified wireless fingerprint sampledata.

Each mobile node of the plurality of mobile nodes may comprise awireless access point configured to provide wireless Internet access toend-user devices, and each node of the plurality of nodes mayperiodically wirelessly broadcast its current geographic location toother nodes of the network. The scanning of RF signals within theservice area of the wireless network may be without regard to a route oftravel of a vehicle in which the mobile node resides. The method mayfurther comprise adding the wireless snapshot and a respective estimatedlocation of the particular mobile node to the collection as a wirelessfingerprint sample, if the search fails to identify at least onewireless fingerprint sample that matches the wireless snapshot. Thecollection may be indexed according to one or more of the data elementsof each wireless fingerprint sample that characterize a signal source,and the one or more communication interfaces may be configured to scanand characterize RF signal sources comprising an RF signal of an IEEE802.11p compliant vehicle to vehicle wireless communication standard andan RF signal compliant with a commercial cellular communicationstandard.

Additional aspects of the present disclosure may be found in anon-transitory computer-readable medium on which is stored instructionsexecutable by one or more processors, where the executable instructionsmay cause the one or more processors to perform a method of vehicularpositioning of nodes of a radio frequency (RF) wireless networkcomprising a plurality of nodes disposed at respective fixed locationsand a plurality of mobile nodes that reside in respective vehicles thatmove within a service area of the wireless network. Each node of theplurality of nodes may comprise one or more communication interfacesconfigured for scanning an RF wireless environment of the respectivenode, and the method may comprise steps of the method described above.

Further aspects of the present disclosure may be observed in a systemfor vehicular positioning of nodes of a radio frequency (RF) wirelessnetwork comprising a plurality of nodes disposed at respective fixedlocations and a plurality of mobile nodes that reside in respectivevehicles that move within a service area of the wireless network, whereeach node of the plurality of nodes may comprise one or morecommunication interfaces configured for scanning an RF wirelessenvironment of the respective node. Such a system may comprise one ormore processors operably coupled to storage and communicatively coupledto the plurality of nodes, and the one or more processors may beoperable to perform the steps of a method, such as the method describedabove.

Aspects of the present disclosure may also be seen in a method ofvehicular positioning of nodes of a radio frequency (RF) wirelessnetwork comprising a plurality of nodes disposed at respective fixedlocations and a plurality of mobile nodes that reside in respectivevehicles that move within a service area of the wireless network. Insuch a wireless network, each node of the plurality of nodes maycomprise one or more communication interfaces configured for scanning anRF wireless environment of the respective node. Such a method maycomprise determining whether the first mobile node is operatingaccording to a first phase of operation or a second phase of operation.If the first mobile node is determined to be operating according to thefirst phase of operation, the method may determine, based on at leastone condition, whether one or more wireless fingerprint samples of theRF wireless environment of the first node are to be obtained. If it isdetermined that one or more wireless fingerprint samples are not to beobtained, the method may change operation of the first mobile node to beaccording to the second phase of operation. If it is determined that oneor more wireless fingerprint samples are to be obtained, the method mayidentify sources of RF signals by scanning one or more pre-definedportions of RF spectrum, where the scanning may generate the one or morewireless fingerprint samples. If it is determined that one or morewireless fingerprint samples are to be obtained, the method may alsotransmit the one or more wireless fingerprint samples to a remote systemthat receives wireless fingerprint samples from the plurality of mobilenodes. If the first mobile node is determined to be operating accordingto the second phase of operation, the method may receive a first requestfor an estimated geographic location of the first mobile node, and maydetermine whether a satellite-based estimated geographic location of thefirst mobile node is available and is of a particular quality level. Ifa satellite-based estimated geographic location of the first mobile nodeis available and is of the particular quality level, the method mayprovide the satellite-based estimated geographic location in response tothe first request. If a satellite-based estimated geographic location ofthe first mobile node of the particular quality level is not available,the method may scan one or more pre-defined portions of RF spectrum togenerate one or more other wireless fingerprint samples, send a secondrequest for an estimated location of the first mobile node and the oneor more other wireless fingerprint samples to the remote system, receivean estimated location of the first mobile node from the remote system inresponse to the second request, and send, in response to the firstrequest, the estimated location of the first mobile node received fromthe remote system.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, the atleast one condition may comprise a first condition in which a certainamount of time has elapsed since obtaining a most recent wirelessfingerprint sample and a second condition in which a certain amount ofdistance has been traveled by the first mobile node since obtaining themost recent wireless fingerprint sample. Each wireless fingerprintsample may comprise data elements that characterize an RF signalreceived by the first mobile node, and each wireless fingerprint samplemay comprise corresponding coordinate information representative of asatellite-based estimated geographic location within the service area atwhich the RF environment was sampled. Each mobile node of the pluralityof mobile nodes may comprise a wireless access point configured toprovide wireless Internet access to end-user devices, and each node ofthe plurality of nodes may periodically wireles sly broadcast itscurrent geographic location to other nodes of the wireless network.

In accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure, the methodmay further comprise, if the first mobile node is determined to beoperating according to the second phase of operation, determiningwhether the first mobile node has received a request to operateaccording to the first phase of operation, and if the first mobile nodehas received a request to operate according to the first phase ofoperation, changing operation of the first mobile node to be accordingto the first phase of operation. The method may also further comprise,if the first mobile node is determined to be operating according to thefirst phase of operation, determining an amount of geographic areaserved by the first mobile node in which accuracy of estimatedgeographic locations derived using wireless fingerprint sample data isbelow a threshold of acceptability. If the first mobile node isdetermined to be operating according to the first phase of operation,the method may also comprise changing operation of the first mobile nodeto be according to the second phase of operation, if the amount ofgeographic area served by the first mobile node in which accuracy ofestimated geographic locations derived using wireless fingerprint sampledata is below a threshold of acceptability, is below a certain thresholdamount.

Additional aspects of the present disclosure may be found in anon-transitory computer-readable medium on which is stored instructionsexecutable by one or more processors, where the executable instructionsmay cause the one or more processors to perform the actions of a methodof vehicular positioning of nodes of a radio frequency (RF) wirelessnetwork comprising a plurality of nodes disposed at respective fixedlocations and a plurality of mobile nodes that reside in respectivevehicles that move within a service area of the wireless network. Eachnode of the plurality of nodes may comprise one or more communicationinterfaces configured for scanning an RF wireless environment of therespective node, and the actions of the method may be as describedabove.

Further aspects of the present disclosure may be observed in a systemfor vehicular positioning of nodes of a radio frequency (RF) wirelessnetwork comprising a plurality of nodes disposed at respective fixedlocations and a plurality of mobile nodes that reside in respectivevehicles that move within a service area of the wireless network. Insuch a wireless network, each node of the plurality of nodes maycomprise one or more communication interfaces configured for scanning anRF wireless environment of the respective node. Such a system maycomprise one or more processors operably coupled to storage andcommunicatively coupled to the plurality of nodes, where the one or moreprocessors are operable to, at least, perform the actions of a methodsuch as the method described above.

The communication network (or components thereof) is also configurable,according to the infrastructure requirements and/or mobility needs ofeach client, etc. For example, the communication network (or componentsthereof) may comprise the capability to support different Layer 2 (L2)or Layer 3 (L3) implementations, or combinations thereof, as well asIPv4/IPv6 traffic.

In accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, examples of thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,192, titled “CommunicationNetwork of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015, which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

In accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, the networksand/or components thereof presented herein are provided with systems andmethods for integrating such networks and/or components with othernetworks and systems, non-limiting examples of which are provided inU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/221,997, titled “IntegratedCommunication Network for A Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22,2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for synchronizing such networks and/or components,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/222,016, titled “Systems and Methods forSynchronizing a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015, whichis hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for managing such networks and/or components,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/222,042, titled “Systems and Methods forManaging a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015, which ishereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for monitoring such networks and/or components,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/222,066, titled “Systems and Methods forMonitoring a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015, which ishereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Still further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure,the networks and/or components thereof presented herein are providedwith systems and methods for detecting and/or classifying anomalies insuch networks and/or components, non-limiting examples of which areprovided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,077, titled“Systems and Methods for Detecting and Classifying Anomalies in aNetwork of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015, which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Yet further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for managing mobility in such networks and/orcomponents, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,098, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Managing Mobility in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22,2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for managing connectivity in such networks and/orcomponents, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,121, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Managing Connectivity a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22,2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for collecting sensor data in such networks and/orcomponents, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,135, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Collecting Sensor Data in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep.22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for interfacing with such networks and/orcomponents, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,145, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Interfacing with a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22,2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Still further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure,the networks and/or components thereof presented herein are providedwith systems and methods for interfacing with a user of such networksand/or components, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,150, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Interfacing with a User of a Network of Moving Things,” filed onSep. 22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Yet further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for data storage and processing in such networksand/or components, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,168, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Data Storage and Processing for a Network of Moving Things,” filedon Sep. 22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference inits entirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for vehicle traffic management in such networksand/or components, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,183, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Vehicle Traffic Management in a Network of Moving Things,” filed onSep. 22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for environmental management in such networks and/orcomponents, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,186, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Environmental Management in a Network of Moving Things,” filed onSep. 22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for managing port or shipping operation in suchnetworks and/or components, non-limiting examples of which are providedin U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,190, titled “Systems andMethods for Port Management in a Network of Moving Things,” filed onSep. 22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for enhancing the accuracy of positioning orlocation information based at least in part on historical data,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/244,828, titled “Utilizing Historical Data toCorrect GPS Data in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Oct. 22, 2015,which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for enhancing the accuracy of position or locationof positioning or location information based at least in part on theutilization of anchors, non-limiting examples of which are provided inU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/244,930, titled “Using Anchorsto Correct GPS Data in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Oct. 22,2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for providing communication between applications,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/246,368, titled “Systems and Methods forInter-Application Communication in a Network of Moving Things,” filed onOct. 26, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Still further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure,the networks and/or components thereof presented herein are providedwith systems and methods for probing, analyzing and/or validatingcommunication, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/246,372, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Probing and Validating Communication in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Oct. 26, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

Yet further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for adapting communication rate, non-limitingexamples of which are provided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.62/250,544, titled “Adaptive Rate Control for Vehicular Networks,” filedon Nov. 4, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for reconfiguring and adapting hardware,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/273,878, titled “Systems and Methods forReconfiguring and Adapting Hardware in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Dec. 31, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for optimizing the gathering of data, non-limitingexamples of which are provided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.62/253,249, titled “Systems and Methods for Optimizing Data Gathering ina Network of Moving Things,” filed on Nov. 10, 2015, which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for performing delay tolerant networking,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/257,421, titled “Systems and Methods for DelayTolerant Networking in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Nov. 19,2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Still further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure,the networks and/or components thereof presented herein are providedwith systems and methods for improving the coverage and throughput ofmobile access points, non-limiting examples of which are provided inU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/265,267, titled “Systems andMethods for Improving Coverage and Throughput of Mobile Access Points ina Network of Moving Things,” filed on Dec. 9, 2015, which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Yet further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for coordinating channel utilization, non-limitingexamples of which are provided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.62/270,858, titled “Channel Coordination in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Dec. 22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for implementing a network coded mesh network in thenetwork of moving things, non-limiting examples of which are provided inU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/257,854, titled “Systems andMethods for Network Coded Mesh Networking in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Nov. 20, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for improving the coverage of fixed access points,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/260,749, titled “Systems and Methods forImproving Fixed Access Point Coverage in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Nov. 30, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for managing mobility controllers and their networkinteractions, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/273,715, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Managing Mobility Controllers and Their Network Interactions in aNetwork of Moving Things,” filed on Dec. 31, 2015, which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Still further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure,the networks and/or components thereof presented herein are providedwith systems and methods for managing and/or triggering handovers ofmobile access points, non-limiting examples of which are provided inU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/281,432, titled “Systems andMethods for Managing and Triggering Handovers of Mobile Access Points ina Network of Moving Things,” filed on Jan. 21, 2016, which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Yet further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for performing captive portal-related control andmanagement, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/268,188, titled “CaptivePortal-related Control and Management in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Dec. 16, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for extrapolating high-value data, non-limitingexamples of which are provided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.62/270,678, titled “Systems and Methods to Extrapolate High-Value Datafrom a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Dec. 22, 2015, which ishereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for providing remote software updating anddistribution, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/272,750, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Remote Software Update and Distribution in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Dec. 30, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for providing remote configuration updating anddistribution, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/278,662, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Remote Configuration Update and Distribution in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Jan. 14, 2016, which is hereby incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

Still further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure,the networks and/or components thereof presented herein are providedwith systems and methods for adapting the network, for exampleautomatically, based on user feedback, non-limiting examples of whichare provided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/286,243, titled“Systems and Methods for Adapting a Network of Moving Things Based onUser Feedback,” filed on Jan. 22, 2016, which is hereby incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

Yet further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for enhancing and/or guaranteeing data integritywhen building or performing data analytics, non-limiting examples ofwhich are provided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/278,764,titled “Systems and Methods to Guarantee Data Integrity When BuildingData Analytics in a Network of Moving Things,” Jan. 14, 2016, which ishereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for performing self-initialization and/or automatedbootstrapping of mobile access points, non-limiting examples of whichare provided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/286,515, titled“Systems and Methods for Self-Initialization and Automated Bootstrappingof Mobile Access Points in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Jan.25, 2016, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for managing power supply and/or utilization,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/295,602, titled “Systems and Methods for PowerManagement in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Feb. 16, 2016, whichis hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for automating and easing the installation and setupof the infrastructure, non-limiting examples of which are provided inU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/299,269, titled “Systems andMethods for Automating and Easing the Installation and Setup of theInfrastructure Supporting a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Feb. 24,2016, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

In summary, various aspects of this disclosure provide communicationnetwork architectures, systems and methods for supporting a network ofmobile nodes, for example comprising a combination of mobile andstationary nodes. As a non-limiting example, various aspects of thisdisclosure provide communication network architectures, systems, andmethods for supporting a dynamically configurable communication networkcomprising a complex array of both static and moving communication nodes(e.g., the Internet of moving things). While the foregoing has beendescribed with reference to certain aspects and examples, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be madeand equivalents may be substituted without departing from the scope ofthe disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt aparticular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosurewithout departing from its scope. Therefore, it is intended that thedisclosure not be limited to the particular example(s) disclosed, butthat the disclosure will include all examples falling within the scopeof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of vehicular positioning of nodes of aradio frequency (RF) wireless network comprising a plurality of nodesdisposed at respective fixed locations and a plurality of mobile nodesthat reside in respective vehicles that move within a service area ofthe wireless network, and wherein each node of the plurality of nodescomprises one or more communication interfaces configured for scanningan RF wireless environment of the respective node, the methodcomprising: determining whether the first mobile node is operatingaccording to a first phase of operation or a second phase of operation;if the first mobile node is determined to be operating according to thefirst phase of operation: determining, based on at least one condition,whether one or more wireless fingerprint samples of the RF wirelessenvironment of the first node are to be obtained, if it is determinedthat one or more wireless fingerprint samples are not to be obtained,changing operation of the first mobile node to be according to thesecond phase of operation, and if it is determined that one or morewireless fingerprint samples are to be obtained, identifying sources ofRF signals by scanning one or more pre-defined portions of RF spectrum,wherein the scanning generates the one or more wireless fingerprintsamples, and transmitting the one or more wireless fingerprint samplesto a remote system that receives wireless fingerprint samples from theplurality of mobile nodes; and if the first mobile node is determined tobe operating according to the second phase of operation: receiving afirst request for an estimated geographic location of the first mobilenode, determining whether a satellite-based estimated geographiclocation of the first mobile node is available and is of a particularquality level, if a satellite-based estimated geographic location of thefirst mobile node is available and is of the particular quality level,providing the satellite-based estimated geographic location in responseto the first request, and if a satellite-based estimated geographiclocation of the first mobile node of the particular quality level is notavailable: scanning one or more pre-defined portions of RF spectrum togenerate one or more other wireless fingerprint samples, sending asecond request for an estimated location of the first mobile node andthe one or more other wireless fingerprint samples to the remote system,receiving an estimated location of the first mobile node from the remotesystem in response to the second request, and sending, in response tothe first request, the estimated location of the first mobile nodereceived from the remote system.
 2. The method according to claim 1,wherein the at least one condition comprises a first condition in whicha certain amount of time has elapsed since obtaining a most recentwireless fingerprint sample and a second condition in which a certainamount of distance has been traveled by the first mobile node sinceobtaining the most recent wireless fingerprint sample.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein each wireless fingerprint sample comprisesdata elements that characterize an RF signal received by the firstmobile node.
 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein each wirelessfingerprint sample comprises corresponding coordinate informationrepresentative of a satellite-based estimated geographic location withinthe service area at which the RF environment was sampled.
 5. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein each mobile node of the plurality ofmobile nodes comprises a wireless access point configured to providewireless Internet access to end-user devices.
 6. The method according toclaim 1, wherein each node of the plurality of nodes periodicallywirelessly broadcasts its current geographic location to other nodes ofthe wireless network.
 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein themethod further comprises: if the first mobile node is determined to beoperating according to the second phase of operation: determiningwhether the first mobile node has received a request to operateaccording to the first phase of operation, and if the first mobile nodehas received a request to operate according to the first phase ofoperation, changing operation of the first mobile node to be accordingto the first phase of operation.
 8. The method according to claim 1,wherein the method further comprises: if the first mobile node isdetermined to be operating according to the first phase of operation:determining an amount of geographic area served by the first mobile nodein which accuracy of estimated geographic locations derived usingwireless fingerprint sample data is below a threshold of acceptability,and changing operation of the first mobile node to be according to thesecond phase of operation, if the amount of geographic area served bythe first mobile node in which accuracy of estimated geographiclocations derived using wireless fingerprint sample data is below athreshold of acceptability, is below a certain threshold amount.
 9. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium on which is stored instructionsexecutable by one or more processors, the executable instructionscausing the one or more processors to perform the actions of a method ofvehicular positioning of nodes of a radio frequency (RF) wirelessnetwork comprising a plurality of nodes disposed at respective fixedlocations and a plurality of mobile nodes that reside in respectivevehicles that move within a service area of the wireless network, andwherein each node of the plurality of nodes comprises one or morecommunication interfaces configured for scanning an RF wirelessenvironment of the respective node, the actions comprising: determiningwhether the first mobile node is operating according to a first phase ofoperation or a second phase of operation; if the first mobile node isdetermined to be operating according to the first phase of operation:determining, based on at least one condition, whether one or morewireless fingerprint samples of the RF wireless environment of the firstnode are to be obtained, if it is determined that one or more wirelessfingerprint samples are not to be obtained, changing operation of thefirst mobile node to be according to the second phase of operation, andif it is determined that one or more wireless fingerprint samples are tobe obtained, identifying sources of RF signals by scanning one or morepre-defined portions of RF spectrum, wherein the scanning generates theone or more wireless fingerprint samples, and transmitting the one ormore wireless fingerprint samples to a remote system that receiveswireless fingerprint samples from the plurality of mobile nodes; and ifthe first mobile node is determined to be operating according to thesecond phase of operation: receiving a first request for an estimatedgeographic location of the first mobile node, determining whether asatellite-based estimated geographic location of the first mobile nodeis available and is of a particular quality level, if a satellite-basedestimated geographic location of the first mobile node is available andis of the particular quality level, providing the satellite-basedestimated geographic location in response to the first request, and if asatellite-based estimated geographic location of the first mobile nodeof the particular quality level is not available: scanning one or morepre-defined portions of RF spectrum to generate one or more otherwireless fingerprint samples, sending a second request for an estimatedlocation of the first mobile node and the one or more other wirelessfingerprint samples to the remote system, receiving an estimatedlocation of the first mobile node from the remote system in response tothe second request, and sending, in response to the first request, theestimated location of the first mobile node received from the remotesystem.
 10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according toclaim 9, wherein the at least one condition comprises a first conditionin which a certain amount of time has elapsed since obtaining a mostrecent wireless fingerprint sample and a second condition in which acertain amount of distance has been traveled by the first mobile nodesince obtaining the most recent wireless fingerprint sample.
 11. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 9, whereineach wireless fingerprint sample comprises data elements thatcharacterize an RF signal received by the first mobile node.
 12. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, whereineach wireless fingerprint sample comprises corresponding coordinateinformation representative of a satellite-based estimated geographiclocation within the service area at which the RF environment wassampled.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according toclaim 9, wherein each mobile node of the plurality of mobile nodescomprises a wireless access point configured to provide wirelessInternet access to end-user devices.
 14. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium according to claim 9, wherein each node of theplurality of nodes periodically wirelessly broadcasts its currentgeographic location to other nodes of the wireless network.
 15. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 9, whereinthe actions of the method further comprise: if the first mobile node isdetermined to be operating according to the second phase of operation:determining whether the first mobile node has received a request tooperate according to the first phase of operation, and if the firstmobile node has received a request to operate according to the firstphase of operation, changing operation of the first mobile node to beaccording to the first phase of operation.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium according to claim 9, wherein the actions ofthe method further comprise: if the first mobile node is determined tobe operating according to the first phase of operation: determining anamount of geographic area served by the first mobile node in whichaccuracy of estimated geographic locations derived using wirelessfingerprint sample data is below a threshold of acceptability, andchanging operation of the first mobile node to be according to thesecond phase of operation, if the amount of geographic area served bythe first mobile node in which accuracy of estimated geographiclocations derived using wireless fingerprint sample data is below athreshold of acceptability, is below a certain threshold amount.
 17. Asystem for vehicular positioning of nodes of a radio frequency (RF)wireless network comprising a plurality of nodes disposed at respectivefixed locations and a plurality of mobile nodes that reside inrespective vehicles that move within a service area of the wirelessnetwork, and wherein each node of the plurality of nodes comprises oneor more communication interfaces configured for scanning an RF wirelessenvironment of the respective node, the system comprising: one or moreprocessors operably coupled to storage and communicatively coupled tothe plurality of nodes, the one or more processors operable to, atleast: determine whether the first mobile node is operating according toa first phase of operation or a second phase of operation; if the firstmobile node is determined to be operating according to the first phaseof operation: determine, based on at least one condition, whether one ormore wireless fingerprint samples of the RF wireless environment of thefirst node are to be obtained, if it is determined that one or morewireless fingerprint samples are not to be obtained, change operation ofthe first mobile node to be according to the second phase of operation,and if it is determined that one or more wireless fingerprint samplesare to be obtained, identify sources of RF signals by scanning one ormore pre-defined portions of RF spectrum, wherein the scanning generatesthe one or more wireless fingerprint samples, and transmit the one ormore wireless fingerprint samples to a remote system that receiveswireless fingerprint samples from the plurality of mobile nodes; and ifthe first mobile node is determined to be operating according to thesecond phase of operation: receive a first request for an estimatedgeographic location of the first mobile node, determine whether asatellite-based estimated geographic location of the first mobile nodeis available and is of a particular quality level, if a satellite-basedestimated geographic location of the first mobile node is available andis of the particular quality level, provide the satellite-basedestimated geographic location in response to the first request, and if asatellite-based estimated geographic location of the first mobile nodeof the particular quality level is not available: scan one or morepre-defined portions of RF spectrum to generate one or more otherwireless fingerprint samples, send a second request for an estimatedlocation of the first mobile node and the one or more other wirelessfingerprint samples to the remote system, receive an estimated locationof the first mobile node from the remote system in response to thesecond request, and send, in response to the first request, theestimated location of the first mobile node received from the remotesystem.
 18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the at least onecondition comprises a first condition in which a certain amount of timehas elapsed since obtaining a most recent wireless fingerprint sampleand a second condition in which a certain amount of distance has beentraveled by the first mobile node since obtaining the most recentwireless fingerprint sample.
 19. The system according to claim 17,wherein each wireless fingerprint sample comprises data elements thatcharacterize an RF signal received by the first mobile node.
 20. Thesystem according to claim 19, wherein each wireless fingerprint samplecomprises corresponding coordinate information representative of asatellite-based estimated geographic location within the service area atwhich the RF environment was sampled.
 21. The system according to claim17, wherein each mobile node of the plurality of mobile nodes comprisesa wireless access point configured to provide wireless Internet accessto end-user devices.
 22. The system according to claim 17, wherein eachnode of the plurality of nodes periodically wirelessly broadcasts itscurrent geographic location to other nodes of the wireless network. 23.The system according to claim 17, wherein the one or more processors arefurther operable to, at least: if the first mobile node is determined tobe operating according to the second phase of operation: determinewhether the first mobile node has received a request to operateaccording to the first phase of operation, and if the first mobile nodehas received a request to operate according to the first phase ofoperation, change operation of the first mobile node to be according tothe first phase of operation.
 24. The system according to claim 17,wherein the one or more processors are further operable to, at least: ifthe first mobile node is determined to be operating according to thefirst phase of operation: determine an amount of geographic area servedby the first mobile node in which accuracy of estimated geographiclocations derived using wireless fingerprint sample data is below athreshold of acceptability, and change operation of the first mobilenode to be according to the second phase of operation, if the amount ofgeographic area served by the first mobile node in which accuracy ofestimated geographic locations derived using wireless fingerprint sampledata is below a threshold of acceptability, is below a certain thresholdamount.